Stock Buyback Plan Initiated by MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG) Board of Directors

MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG) declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, April 23rd, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $750.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to repurchase up to 12.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MTG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on MGIC Investment from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on MGIC Investment from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded MGIC Investment from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on MGIC Investment from $29.50 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.50.

MGIC Investment Stock Performance

MTG opened at $28.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. MGIC Investment has a 1-year low of $24.00 and a 1-year high of $29.97. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $26.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.43.

MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The insurance provider reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.02. MGIC Investment had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 60.84%.MGIC Investment’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that MGIC Investment will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MGIC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. MGIC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is 19.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MGIC Investment news, COO Salvatore A. Miosi sold 10,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.25, for a total value of $286,938.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 590,951 shares in the company, valued at $15,512,463.75. This represents a 1.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Timothy J. Mattke sold 139,202 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.49, for a total value of $3,687,460.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,118,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,615,952.45. This trade represents a 11.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 200,133 shares of company stock worth $5,342,700 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.34% of the company’s stock.

About MGIC Investment

MGIC Investment Corporation (NYSE: MTG) is a leading provider of private mortgage insurance in the United States. Established in 1957 as the nation’s first private mortgage insurer, MGIC helps lenders manage credit risk and facilitates homeownership by protecting mortgage loans against default. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company operates through its principal subsidiary, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation, and maintains relationships with a broad network of originators and servicers nationwide.

The company’s primary business activity involves issuing mortgage insurance policies that enable borrowers to purchase homes with down payments below traditional lending thresholds.