AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) Short Interest Update

AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 253,200 shares, a growth of 46.6% from the December 15th total of 172,700 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 118,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AMSF. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of AMERISAFE in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of AMERISAFE from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Institutional Trading of AMERISAFE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AMERISAFE during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quarry LP raised its position in AMERISAFE by 1,028.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in AMERISAFE by 97.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of AMERISAFE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $100,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of AMERISAFE in the 3rd quarter valued at about $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.41% of the company’s stock.

AMERISAFE Stock Performance

AMSF stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $51.51. 13,712 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 72,804. AMERISAFE has a one year low of $41.97 and a one year high of $60.24. The company has a market cap of $981.27 million, a PE ratio of 16.10 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $54.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.83.

AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. AMERISAFE had a return on equity of 16.50% and a net margin of 19.49%. The business had revenue of $78.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. On average, analysts expect that AMERISAFE will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

AMERISAFE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $3.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $13.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 26.17%. This is an increase from AMERISAFE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. AMERISAFE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.25%.

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.