AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) Short Interest Down 11.2% in September

AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 194,000 shares, a drop of 11.2% from the September 15th total of 218,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 111,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of AMERISAFE

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of AMERISAFE by 12.8% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 855,916 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,941,000 after purchasing an additional 97,280 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of AMERISAFE during the first quarter worth about $23,251,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in shares of AMERISAFE by 5.1% during the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 315,409 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,843,000 after purchasing an additional 15,196 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AMERISAFE during the first quarter worth about $821,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its position in AMERISAFE by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 2,082 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMSF. StockNews.com upgraded AMERISAFE from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of AMERISAFE in a report on Tuesday.

AMERISAFE Price Performance

AMERISAFE stock opened at $50.98 on Thursday. AMERISAFE has a 1-year low of $41.97 and a 1-year high of $54.80. The stock has a market cap of $975.50 million, a PE ratio of 15.88 and a beta of 0.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $48.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.89.

AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.03). AMERISAFE had a net margin of 18.46% and a return on equity of 16.38%. The business had revenue of $75.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.20 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that AMERISAFE will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMERISAFE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. AMERISAFE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.11%.

About AMERISAFE

AMERISAFE, Inc, an insurance holding company, underwrites workers’ compensation insurance in the United States. The company provides benefits to injured employees for temporary or permanent disability, death, and medical and hospital expenses. It sells its products through retail and wholesale brokers and agents; and small and mid-sized employers engaged in hazardous industries, including construction, trucking, logging and lumber, agriculture, manufacturing, telecommunications, and maritime.