First Trust Advisors LP Increases Position in Kemper Corporation $KMPR

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR) by 44.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 736,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 225,476 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 1.26% of Kemper worth $37,950,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kemper during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $976,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kemper by 822.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 41,102 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,653,000 after acquiring an additional 36,647 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Kemper by 19.3% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,508,352 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $97,026,000 after acquiring an additional 244,391 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its stake in Kemper by 119.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 66,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after purchasing an additional 36,118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in Kemper by 783.7% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 59,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,079,000 after purchasing an additional 52,989 shares in the last quarter. 86.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on KMPR. Zacks Research downgraded Kemper from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. William Blair cut Kemper from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Citigroup downgraded Kemper to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Kemper from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group set a $56.00 price objective on shares of Kemper in a research note on Monday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kemper has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $56.50.

Kemper Price Performance

KMPR stock opened at $29.16 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.06. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.18. Kemper Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.41 and a 1 year high of $69.83.

Kemper (NYSE:KMPR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The insurance provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.60). Kemper had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 2.99%.The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kemper Corporation will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kemper Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Kemper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.45%.

About Kemper

Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR) is a diversified insurance holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Formed through the rebranding of Unitrin in 2010, Kemper has established a nationwide presence by offering a broad array of property and casualty insurance products. The company distributes its products through independent agents, brokers and direct-to-consumer channels, serving both individual policyholders and commercial clients.

The personal insurance segment provides coverage for automobiles, homeowners, renters and umbrella lines, while the commercial business focuses on liability, workers’ compensation and specialty property solutions tailored to small and mid-sized enterprises.