Short Interest in Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) Rises By 20.9%

Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 126,900 shares, a growth of 20.9% from the November 15th total of 105,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 51,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Safety Insurance Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 756,633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $56,770,000 after buying an additional 11,146 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 589,457 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,206,000 after purchasing an additional 2,682 shares during the period. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 512,888 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,944,000 after purchasing an additional 57,320 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 355,390 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 233,023 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $19,057,000 after purchasing an additional 4,263 shares during the period. 81.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Safety Insurance Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

Safety Insurance Group Stock Performance

Safety Insurance Group stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $83.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 27,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 67,694. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $83.18 and its 200 day moving average is $81.53. Safety Insurance Group has a 1-year low of $71.99 and a 1-year high of $90.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.58 and a beta of 0.19.

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by ($0.30). Safety Insurance Group had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 6.35%. The company had revenue of $295.28 million for the quarter.

Safety Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Safety Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.29%.

About Safety Insurance Group

Safety Insurance Group, Inc provides private passenger and commercial automobile, and homeowner insurance in the United States. The company’s private passenger automobile policies offer coverage for bodily injury and property damage to others, no-fault personal injury coverage for the insured/insured’s car occupants, and physical damage coverage for an insured’s own vehicle for collision or other perils.