Radian Group Inc. (NYSE:RDN) Shares Purchased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Radian Group Inc. (NYSE:RDN) by 33.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 116,333 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,262 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.08% of Radian Group worth $3,690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of RDN. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Radian Group by 272.8% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 828,058 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,725,000 after purchasing an additional 605,956 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in Radian Group by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,092,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,640,000 after buying an additional 285,481 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Radian Group by 218.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 284,463 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $9,868,000 after buying an additional 194,996 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Radian Group by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,700,279 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $232,433,000 after buying an additional 177,142 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Radian Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,845,740 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $202,789,000 after acquiring an additional 121,166 shares in the last quarter. 95.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on RDN. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Radian Group from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Radian Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.80.

Radian Group Stock Performance

Shares of RDN opened at $32.85 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.36, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 0.46. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $32.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.96. Radian Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.20 and a 52 week high of $37.86.

Radian Group (NYSE:RDN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.17. Radian Group had a net margin of 46.85% and a return on equity of 13.96%. Research analysts expect that Radian Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Radian Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be paid a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. This is an increase from Radian Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Radian Group’s payout ratio is 24.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Radian Group news, insider Derek Brummer sold 14,705 shares of Radian Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.65, for a total value of $509,528.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 171,830 shares in the company, valued at $5,953,909.50. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.16% of the company’s stock.

About Radian Group

Radian Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mortgage and real estate services business in the United States. It operates through two segments, Mortgage Insurance and Homegenius segments. The Mortgage Insurance segment aggregates, manages, and distributes U.S. mortgage credit risk for mortgage lending institutions and mortgage credit investors, through private mortgage insurance on residential first-lien mortgage loans; and other credit risk management solutions, including contract underwriting.