Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Invests $203,000 in United Fire Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFCS)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System bought a new stake in United Fire Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFCS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 7,139 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in United Fire Group by 147.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 44,380 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $928,000 after acquiring an additional 26,469 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of United Fire Group by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 821,566 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,195,000 after purchasing an additional 17,415 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in United Fire Group by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,623 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,085,000 after purchasing an additional 21,352 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in United Fire Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 502,232 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,514,000 after purchasing an additional 2,925 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in United Fire Group during the third quarter worth approximately $256,000. 62.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on UFCS shares. Jones Trading upgraded United Fire Group to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $32.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of United Fire Group from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of United Fire Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James Noyce bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.97 per share, with a total value of $53,940.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,316 shares in the company, valued at $736,712.52. This represents a 7.90 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christopher R. Drahozal sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.33, for a total value of $70,825.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 441,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,517,978.79. The trade was a 0.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

United Fire Group Price Performance

UFCS opened at $29.15 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.46. United Fire Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.04 and a 1 year high of $31.70. The company has a market capitalization of $739.86 million, a PE ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 0.45.

United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.64. United Fire Group had a net margin of 4.94% and a return on equity of 8.84%. Equities analysts anticipate that United Fire Group, Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

United Fire Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. United Fire Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.89%.

United Fire Group Profile

United Fire Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty insurance for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers commercial and personal lines of property and casualty insurance; and reinsurance coverage for property and casualty insurance. Its commercial lines include fire and allied lines, other liability, automobile, workers’ compensation, fidelity and surety coverage, and other insurance products; and personal lines comprise automobile, and fire and allied lines coverage, including homeowners, as well as provides assumed reinsurance products.