Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Position in Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in shares of Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 231 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.05% of Employers worth $687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Employers by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Employers by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Employers by 1.6% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 14,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $708,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in Employers by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 9,895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P increased its holdings in Employers by 1.3% in the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 31,489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,511,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.49% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Employers news, insider Ann Marie Smith sold 1,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.24, for a total value of $70,967.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $450,963.24. This trade represents a 13.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James R. Kroner sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.50, for a total transaction of $51,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,208,087. This trade represents a 4.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,385 shares of company stock valued at $276,267. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Employers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th.

Employers Price Performance

EIG stock opened at $52.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.08 and a beta of 0.27. Employers Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.67 and a 1-year high of $54.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $49.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.66.

Employers (NYSE:EIG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.07. Employers had a net margin of 13.47% and a return on equity of 8.99%. The business had revenue of $216.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $221.18 million. As a group, analysts expect that Employers Holdings, Inc. will post 3.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Employers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Employers’s payout ratio is 25.48%.

About Employers

Employers Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates in the commercial property and casualty insurance industry primarily in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Employers and Cerity. It offers workers’ compensation insurance to small businesses in low to medium hazard industries under the Employers and Cerity brands.