Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Invests $473,000 in Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:UVE)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:UVE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 29,629 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $473,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Universal Insurance by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 66,362 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $703,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its holdings in shares of Universal Insurance by 3.8% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 25,286 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 916 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Universal Insurance by 2.4% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,479 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Universal Insurance by 4.1% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 29,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Universal Insurance by 4.4% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,576 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Universal Insurance from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Universal Insurance in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Universal Insurance from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th.

Universal Insurance Price Performance

Universal Insurance stock opened at $19.16 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.00. The stock has a market cap of $555.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.71 and a beta of 0.83. Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.15 and a 12-month high of $21.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Universal Insurance (NYSE:UVE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.20. Universal Insurance had a return on equity of 18.14% and a net margin of 4.80%. The firm had revenue of $375.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $328.12 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Universal Insurance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. Universal Insurance’s payout ratio is 29.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Universal Insurance

In other Universal Insurance news, Chairman Sean P. Downes sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.53, for a total value of $390,600.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,191,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,267,846.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 17.70% of the company’s stock.

Universal Insurance Profile

Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated insurance holding company in the United States. It develops, markets, and underwrites insurance products for personal residential insurance, such as homeowners, renters/tenants, condo unit owners, and dwelling/fire; and offers allied lines, coverage for other structures, and personal property, liability, and personal articles coverages.