American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stake in Employers Holdings Inc $EIG

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Employers Holdings Inc (NYSE:EIG) by 2.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 627,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,360 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Employers were worth $29,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Employers by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 70,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,339,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Employers by 8.5% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 81,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,850,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Employers during the second quarter worth $587,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Employers during the second quarter worth $234,000. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in shares of Employers by 4.3% in the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 6,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.49% of the company’s stock.

Employers Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Employers stock opened at $39.85 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.55. Employers Holdings Inc has a fifty-two week low of $35.73 and a fifty-two week high of $54.19. The firm has a market cap of $895.79 million, a P/E ratio of 9.72 and a beta of 0.52.

Employers (NYSE:EIG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($1.71). Employers had a return on equity of 7.56% and a net margin of 11.37%.The firm had revenue of $239.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Employers Holdings Inc will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Employers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. Employers’s payout ratio is currently 50.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Employers news, EVP Michael Pedraja bought 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $37.09 per share, for a total transaction of $203,995.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president directly owned 17,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $661,314.70. This trade represents a 44.61% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EIG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Employers in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered Employers from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Employers from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Employers Company Profile

Employers Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates in the commercial property and casualty insurance industry primarily in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Employers and Cerity. It offers workers’ compensation insurance to small businesses in low to medium hazard industries under the Employers and Cerity brands.