United Fire Group, Inc $UFCS Shares Purchased by Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in United Fire Group, Inc (NASDAQ:UFCS) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 211,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in United Fire Group were worth $7,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in United Fire Group by 108.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 347,008 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,959,000 after purchasing an additional 180,836 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in shares of United Fire Group by 236.4% during the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 235,925 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,576,000 after buying an additional 165,789 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of United Fire Group by 59.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 301,076 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,641,000 after buying an additional 112,318 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of United Fire Group by 79.4% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 211,339 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,429,000 after buying an additional 93,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of United Fire Group in the third quarter worth about $2,080,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UFCS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of United Fire Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. JonesTrading increased their price objective on shares of United Fire Group from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of United Fire Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of United Fire Group in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Zacks Research cut United Fire Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at United Fire Group

In other news, Director George D. Milligan purchased 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $45.23 per share, for a total transaction of $203,535.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 90,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,072,237.82. This represents a 5.26% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

United Fire Group Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of UFCS opened at $52.45 on Tuesday. United Fire Group, Inc has a 52-week low of $25.79 and a 52-week high of $54.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.29. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.57 and a beta of 0.50.

United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.29. United Fire Group had a net margin of 9.16% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The firm had revenue of $369.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $340.15 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that United Fire Group, Inc will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

United Fire Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. United Fire Group’s dividend payout ratio is 16.13%.

United Fire Group declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 20th that allows the company to repurchase 2,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the insurance provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About United Fire Group

United Fire Group, Inc (NASDAQ: UFCS) is an insurance holding company based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that specializes in property and casualty coverage for commercial and personal lines. The company underwrites business through three primary segments: commercial, personal and specialty insurance. Within the commercial segment, United Fire Group offers tailored policies for small- and medium-sized enterprises, including general liability, commercial property and workers’ compensation. Its personal lines cover homeowners, auto, farm and umbrella policies.

United Fire Group distributes its products primarily through a national network of independent insurance agents and brokers.