Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $103.80 and last traded at $103.7110, with a volume of 75842 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $103.64.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SAFT shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Safety Insurance Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Safety Insurance Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Safety Insurance Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Safety Insurance Group Stock Down 0.0%

The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $89.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.41.

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The insurance provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.03. Safety Insurance Group had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 5.33%.The business had revenue of $325.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $325.68 million. As a group, analysts predict that Safety Insurance Group, Inc. will post 4.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Safety Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Safety Insurance Group’s payout ratio is presently 79.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Corp Srb sold 1,240,352 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.07, for a total transaction of $127,843,080.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 473,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,791,998.09. This represents a 72.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,316,109 shares of company stock worth $134,654,987. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Odyssean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Safety Insurance Group in the second quarter worth about $768,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 44.8% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 67,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,933,000 after buying an additional 21,018 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Safety Insurance Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $171,385,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Safety Insurance Group by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,661,343 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $129,435,000 after acquiring an additional 29,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Safety Insurance Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,187,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.04% of the company’s stock.

Safety Insurance Group Company Profile

Safety Insurance Group, Inc is a publicly traded property and casualty insurance holding company incorporated in Massachusetts in 1994. Its principal subsidiary, Safety Insurance Company, traces its roots back to 1923 and has since evolved into a regional personal lines insurer. The company is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol SAFT.

Safety Insurance Group focuses primarily on private passenger automobile and homeowners insurance products, along with dwelling fire, umbrella liability, and certain commercial auto coverages.