HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 375 Shares of Kemper Co. (NYSE:KMPR)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kemper Co. (NYSE:KMPR) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,342 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kemper were worth $621,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of KMPR. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Kemper in the fourth quarter valued at $23,325,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Kemper by 1,070.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 140,189 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,526,000 after buying an additional 128,213 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Kemper by 102.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 201,756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,358,000 after acquiring an additional 102,339 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Kemper by 60.2% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 236,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $14,480,000 after acquiring an additional 88,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Kemper by 3.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,136,621 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $130,868,000 after acquiring an additional 79,622 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James increased their target price on Kemper from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Kemper from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Kemper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.60.

Kemper Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:KMPR opened at $66.97 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.64. Kemper Co. has a 1 year low of $54.11 and a 1 year high of $73.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 0.88.

Kemper (NYSE:KMPR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.40. Kemper had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 6.85%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Kemper Co. will post 6.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kemper Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Kemper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Kemper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.07%.

About Kemper

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.