Insider Selling: Universal Insurance (NYSE:UVE) Director Sells $1,113,013.35 in Stock

Universal Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:UVE) Director Jon Springer sold 35,435 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.41, for a total transaction of $1,113,013.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 271,628 shares in the company, valued at $8,531,835.48. The trade was a 11.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Universal Insurance Price Performance

UVE stock opened at $30.76 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $27.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.93. Universal Insurance Holdings Inc has a 12-month low of $18.72 and a 12-month high of $33.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $871.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Universal Insurance (NYSE:UVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.26. Universal Insurance had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 28.25%. The firm had revenue of $592.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $366.36 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Universal Insurance Holdings Inc will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Universal Insurance

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its stake in Universal Insurance by 6.8% during the first quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 1,836,718 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,530,000 after acquiring an additional 116,199 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Universal Insurance by 9.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 805,199 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $19,083,000 after acquiring an additional 69,289 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Universal Insurance by 13.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 757,747 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $21,012,000 after acquiring an additional 89,106 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Universal Insurance by 6.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 681,853 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $18,909,000 after acquiring an additional 44,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Universal Insurance by 43.9% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 454,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,603,000 after acquiring an additional 138,732 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on UVE shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Universal Insurance from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Zacks Research raised shares of Universal Insurance from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Universal Insurance in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Strong Buy”.

About Universal Insurance

Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated insurance holding company in the United States. It develops, markets, and underwrites insurance products for personal residential insurance, such as homeowners, renters/tenants, condo unit owners, and dwelling/fire; and offers allied lines, coverage for other structures, and personal property, liability, and personal articles coverages.