Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Lowers Stake in Employers Holdings Inc $EIG

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership cut its stake in Employers Holdings Inc (NYSE:EIG) by 13.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 223,693 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 35,103 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Employers were worth $10,554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EIG. Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Employers in the 2nd quarter valued at about $719,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Employers by 158.8% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 21,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,098,000 after acquiring an additional 13,305 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its position in Employers by 19.4% during the first quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 50,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,557,000 after acquiring an additional 8,202 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Employers in the first quarter valued at approximately $9,814,000. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in Employers by 21.8% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 355,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,252,000 after acquiring an additional 63,582 shares in the last quarter. 80.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Michael Pedraja acquired 5,500 shares of Employers stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $37.09 per share, for a total transaction of $203,995.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president owned 17,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $661,314.70. This represents a 44.61% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Employers Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE EIG opened at $39.88 on Wednesday. Employers Holdings Inc has a 52 week low of $35.73 and a 52 week high of $53.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.08. The firm has a market cap of $896.50 million, a P/E ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 0.60.

Employers (NYSE:EIG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($1.71). The business had revenue of $239.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.60 million. Employers had a net margin of 6.91% and a return on equity of 3.38%. The business’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Employers Holdings Inc will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Employers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. Employers’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EIG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded Employers from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Employers in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Employers from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Employers 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.