Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Increases Stock Position in AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) by 5.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 315,409 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,196 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado owned about 1.65% of AMERISAFE worth $13,843,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AMERISAFE by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,472,739 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $73,887,000 after buying an additional 115,676 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in AMERISAFE by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 855,916 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,941,000 after buying an additional 97,280 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in AMERISAFE by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 678,321 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,732,000 after buying an additional 105,414 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of AMERISAFE in the 1st quarter worth $23,251,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of AMERISAFE by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 283,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,434,000 after purchasing an additional 3,719 shares in the last quarter. 97.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AMSF shares. StockNews.com upgraded AMERISAFE from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of AMERISAFE in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th.

AMERISAFE Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMSF opened at $47.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $916.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.93 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $48.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.16. AMERISAFE, Inc. has a one year low of $41.97 and a one year high of $54.80.

AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $75.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.20 million. AMERISAFE had a return on equity of 16.38% and a net margin of 18.46%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that AMERISAFE, Inc. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMERISAFE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. AMERISAFE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.11%.

AMERISAFE Profile

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.