Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Acquires New Position in Kemper Co. (NYSE:KMPR)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Kemper Co. (NYSE:KMPR) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 377,648 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $23,384,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned 0.59% of Kemper at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kemper by 211.1% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 532 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Kemper by 257.8% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 483 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kemper during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $66,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kemper during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $119,000. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Kemper by 83,566.7% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,510 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 2,507 shares during the period. 86.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gerald Laderman bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $61.01 per share, with a total value of $305,050.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 16,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,018,867. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 6.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KMPR shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Kemper in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Kemper from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $70.40.

Kemper Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of KMPR opened at $59.42 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.33. Kemper Co. has a 1-year low of $38.32 and a 1-year high of $64.69. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.27 and a beta of 0.89.

Kemper (NYSE:KMPR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The insurance provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.09 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. Kemper had a positive return on equity of 3.03% and a negative net margin of 2.52%. The firm’s revenue was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.02) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Kemper Co. will post 4.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kemper Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Kemper’s payout ratio is currently -65.26%.

Kemper Profile

Kemper Corporation, a diversified insurance holding company, engages in the provision of insurance products to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Specialty Property & Casualty Insurance, Preferred Property & Casualty Insurance, and Life & Health Insurance.