United Fire Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFCS) Declares $0.16 Quarterly Dividend

United Fire Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFCS) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.16 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th.

United Fire Group has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 17.5% annually over the last three years. United Fire Group has a dividend payout ratio of 29.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect United Fire Group to earn $2.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.1%.

United Fire Group Price Performance

Shares of United Fire Group stock opened at $30.08 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $762.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.51 and a beta of 0.37. United Fire Group has a 52-week low of $18.04 and a 52-week high of $31.14. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.58.

United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The insurance provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.60. The business had revenue of $322.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.80 million. United Fire Group had a return on equity of 6.75% and a net margin of 4.15%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that United Fire Group will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on UFCS shares. Piper Sandler raised United Fire Group from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com raised United Fire Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th.

About United Fire Group

United Fire Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty insurance for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers commercial and personal lines of property and casualty insurance; and reinsurance coverage for property and casualty insurance. Its commercial lines include fire and allied lines, other liability, automobile, workers’ compensation, fidelity and surety coverage, and other insurance products; and personal lines comprise automobile, and fire and allied lines coverage, including homeowners, as well as provides assumed reinsurance products.