Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $103.57 and last traded at $103.39, with a volume of 374230 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.19.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SAFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Zacks Research raised Safety Insurance Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings raised Safety Insurance Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Safety Insurance Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Safety Insurance Group Trading Up 0.2%

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $75.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.44 and a beta of 0.21.

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The insurance provider reported ($0.72) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.45 by ($2.17). The firm had revenue of $314.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.01 million. Safety Insurance Group had a return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 4.94%. On average, analysts forecast that Safety Insurance Group, Inc. will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Safety Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Safety Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is 87.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Safety Insurance Group news, major shareholder Corp Srb sold 1,240,352 shares of Safety Insurance Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.07, for a total value of $127,843,080.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 473,387 shares in the company, valued at $48,791,998.09. The trade was a 72.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,316,109 shares of company stock worth $134,654,987 over the last 90 days. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SAFT. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 5.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 24,877 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,356 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 16.8% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 19,525 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,418,000 after buying an additional 2,813 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Safety Insurance Group by 0.3% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 140,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,199,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Safety Insurance Group by 44.8% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 67,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,933,000 after acquiring an additional 21,018 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Safety Insurance Group by 23.9% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,189 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 615 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.04% of the company’s stock.

Safety Insurance Group Company Profile

Safety Insurance Group, Inc is a publicly traded property and casualty insurance holding company incorporated in Massachusetts in 1994. Its principal subsidiary, Safety Insurance Company, traces its roots back to 1923 and has since evolved into a regional personal lines insurer. The company is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol SAFT.

Safety Insurance Group focuses primarily on private passenger automobile and homeowners insurance products, along with dwelling fire, umbrella liability, and certain commercial auto coverages.