Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Stock Position in Radian Group Inc. (NYSE:RDN)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Radian Group Inc. (NYSE:RDN) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 92,480 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,258 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Radian Group were worth $2,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Radian Group in the fourth quarter valued at $73,693,000. Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Radian Group by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,092,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $34,640,000 after buying an additional 285,481 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Radian Group by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,094,163 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $193,307,000 after buying an additional 248,423 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Radian Group by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,351,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $106,305,000 after buying an additional 245,303 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Radian Group by 218.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 284,463 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,868,000 after buying an additional 194,996 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.33% of the company’s stock.

Radian Group Stock Performance

NYSE:RDN opened at $32.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Radian Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $29.17 and a 1-year high of $37.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $32.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.21.

Radian Group (NYSE:RDN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.17. Radian Group had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 46.85%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Radian Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Radian Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. This is an increase from Radian Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Radian Group’s payout ratio is currently 25.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Radian Group news, Director Gregory Serio sold 4,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.65, for a total value of $133,865.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,231.60. This represents a 92.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Radian Group from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on Radian Group from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.20.

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.