Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) Short Interest Up 20.9% in November

Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) was the target of a large growth in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 126,900 shares, a growth of 20.9% from the November 15th total of 105,000 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 51,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Safety Insurance Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SAFT. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Safety Insurance Group by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 512,888 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,944,000 after purchasing an additional 57,320 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Safety Insurance Group by 348.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,997,000 after buying an additional 18,987 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Safety Insurance Group by 8,078.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 16,356 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 16,156 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Safety Insurance Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $980,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Safety Insurance Group by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 756,633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $56,770,000 after acquiring an additional 11,146 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.04% of the company’s stock.

Safety Insurance Group Price Performance

NASDAQ SAFT traded up $0.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $83.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 27,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 67,694. Safety Insurance Group has a fifty-two week low of $71.99 and a fifty-two week high of $90.00. The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.58 and a beta of 0.19. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.53.

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.40 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $295.28 million during the quarter. Safety Insurance Group had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 6.35%.

Safety Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Safety Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Safety Insurance Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

Safety Insurance Group Company Profile

Safety Insurance Group, Inc provides private passenger and commercial automobile, and homeowner insurance in the United States. The company’s private passenger automobile policies offer coverage for bodily injury and property damage to others, no-fault personal injury coverage for the insured/insured’s car occupants, and physical damage coverage for an insured’s own vehicle for collision or other perils.