Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Acquires Shares of 23,042 Universal Insurance Holdings Inc $UVE

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in Universal Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:UVE) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 23,042 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $953,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned approximately 0.08% of Universal Insurance at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Universal Insurance in the second quarter worth about $111,007,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Universal Insurance by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,007,725 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $67,861,000 after acquiring an additional 54,004 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Universal Insurance by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 815,484 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $27,566,000 after acquiring an additional 134,805 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Universal Insurance by 9.4% in the 1st 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. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Universal Insurance in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,849,000. 66.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Universal Insurance

In related news, Chairman Sean Downes sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.27, for a total transaction of $885,400.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 1,104,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,902,634.15. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 15.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Universal Insurance from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Universal Insurance from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Universal Insurance from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Universal Insurance from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

Universal Insurance Stock Down 0.6%

UVE stock opened at $43.90 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $42.50 and a 200 day moving average of $38.57. The firm has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a PE ratio of 5.79 and a beta of 0.72. Universal Insurance Holdings Inc has a twelve month low of $24.13 and a twelve month high of $45.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Universal Insurance (NYSE:UVE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.27. Universal Insurance had a return on equity of 37.67% and a net margin of 13.49%.The business had revenue of $419.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $614.62 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Universal Insurance Holdings Inc will post 4.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Universal Insurance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Universal Insurance’s payout ratio is presently 8.44%.

Universal Insurance Profile

Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc (NYSE: UVE) is a property and casualty insurance holding company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. The company underwrites homeowners and other residential property insurance products to protect against natural catastrophes such as hurricanes, windstorms and fires. It distributes policies primarily through a network of independent agents and brokers, offering coverage for primary residences, secondary homes, condominiums, vacant dwellings and rental properties across its service territory.

In addition to personal lines, Universal provides commercial property and casualty insurance tailored to small businesses and institutional clients.