Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG) Short Interest Up 44.4% in March

Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 412,800 shares, a growth of 44.4% from the February 28th total of 285,900 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 155,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Insider Transactions at Employers

In other Employers news, Director James R. Kroner sold 2,000 shares of Employers stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.90, for a total transaction of $101,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,295,812.20. The trade was a 7.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ann Marie Smith sold 1,385 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.24, for a total value of $70,967.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,801 shares in the company, valued at $450,963.24. This represents a 13.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,385 shares of company stock worth $276,267. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Employers during the fourth quarter worth $4,688,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Employers by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 62,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,191,000 after buying an additional 6,073 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its stake in Employers by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 6,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $331,000 after buying an additional 1,941 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Employers during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $137,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Employers by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,445 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 2,290 shares during the last quarter. 80.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Employers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th.

Employers Trading Up 1.3 %

Employers stock traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $51.28. The company had a trading volume of 138,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 132,523. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89 and a beta of 0.21. Employers has a 12-month low of $38.67 and a 12-month high of $54.44. The company’s fifty day moving average is $49.70 and its 200-day moving average is $50.02.

Employers (NYSE:EIG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $216.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $221.18 million. Employers had a net margin of 13.47% and a return on equity of 8.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Employers will post 3.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Employers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. Employers’s payout ratio is 25.48%.

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.