Kemper Co. (NYSE:KMPR) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Kemper Co. (NYSE:KMPR) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 939,000 shares, a decline of 7.0% from the September 15th total of 1,010,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 340,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kemper

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Kemper during the 1st quarter worth $23,384,000. Khrom Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Kemper by 414.0% in the first quarter. Khrom Capital Management LLC now owns 425,262 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,332,000 after buying an additional 342,519 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Kemper by 1,336.4% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 340,948 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $20,228,000 after buying an additional 317,212 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Kemper by 815.0% during the second quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 301,524 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,889,000 after acquiring an additional 268,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Kemper by 254.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 349,822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $20,398,000 after acquiring an additional 251,036 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Kemper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 8th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Kemper from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Kemper in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Kemper from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on Kemper from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.20.

Kemper Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of KMPR stock opened at $62.96 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Kemper has a twelve month low of $38.52 and a twelve month high of $65.93. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $61.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.15. The stock has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.72 and a beta of 0.85.

Kemper (NYSE:KMPR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Kemper had a net margin of 1.11% and a return on equity of 7.27%. Kemper’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Kemper will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Kemper Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. Kemper’s payout ratio is 158.98%.

Kemper Company Profile

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.