Radian Group Inc. (NYSE:RDN) Short Interest Update

Radian Group Inc. (NYSE:RDN) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 12,390,000 shares, an increase of 41.1% from the February 13th total of 8,780,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,260,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.8 days. Currently, 8.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on RDN. UBS Group upped their price objective on Radian Group from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Radian Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Radian Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.80.

Radian Group Price Performance

RDN traded up $0.44 on Friday, reaching $31.52. The stock had a trading volume of 1,305,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 954,907. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.04. Radian Group has a fifty-two week low of $29.17 and a fifty-two week high of $37.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $32.62 and a 200-day moving average of $33.66.

Radian Group (NYSE:RDN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.17. Radian Group had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 46.85%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Radian Group will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Radian Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This is a positive change from Radian Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Radian Group’s payout ratio is 25.95%.

Insider Transactions at Radian Group

In other Radian Group news, Director Gregory Serio sold 4,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.65, for a total transaction of $133,865.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 344 shares in the company, valued at $11,231.60. The trade was a 92.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Radian Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its position in shares of Radian Group by 54.3% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 972 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in Radian Group by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,274 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Radian Group by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,351 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Radian Group by 124.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,378 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Radian Group by 735.8% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,407 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 2,119 shares during the last quarter. 95.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Radian Group Company Profile

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.