Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 448,300 shares, a drop of 7.3% from the December 15th total of 483,500 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 117,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EIG has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Employers from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered Employers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

Employers Price Performance

Shares of EIG traded down $0.41 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $49.82. 132,020 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 125,656. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 0.27. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.72. Employers has a one year low of $38.67 and a one year high of $54.44.

Employers (NYSE:EIG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $224.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.19 million. Employers had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 15.27%. Sell-side analysts expect that Employers will post 3.65 EPS for the current year.

Employers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Employers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.47%.

Institutional Trading of Employers

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Employers by 300.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,991,000 after acquiring an additional 31,131 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in Employers by 27.0% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 1,448 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Employers by 1.6% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 14,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $708,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Employers by 22.9% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 48,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,350,000 after buying an additional 9,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Employers by 30.1% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 1,707 shares in the last quarter. 80.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.