Ieq Capital LLC Purchases New Position in AMERISAFE, Inc. $AMSF

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 6,585 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMSF. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of AMERISAFE by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,895 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in AMERISAFE by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,918 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $821,000 after buying an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in AMERISAFE by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 206,675 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,652,000 after buying an additional 7,517 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in AMERISAFE by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 102,843 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,301,000 after buying an additional 7,399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in AMERISAFE by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 18,610 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $959,000 after buying an additional 6,366 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMERISAFE

In other news, CFO Anastasios Omiridis sold 1,343 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.75, for a total transaction of $60,099.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,253 shares in the company, valued at $100,821.75. The trade was a 37.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AMSF. Truist Financial cut their price objective on AMERISAFE from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AMERISAFE from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.50.

AMERISAFE Price Performance

Shares of AMERISAFE stock opened at $45.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $871.07 million, a P/E ratio of 17.38 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.25. AMERISAFE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $42.48 and a 1-year high of $60.24.

AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $79.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.30 million. AMERISAFE had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 16.46%. As a group, research analysts expect that AMERISAFE, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMERISAFE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. AMERISAFE’s payout ratio is currently 59.09%.

About AMERISAFE

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.