Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Decreases Stock Position in AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lowered its stake in AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF – Get Rating) by 74.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 20,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 58,500 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in AMERISAFE were worth $953,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in AMERISAFE by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,386,151 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $64,775,000 after purchasing an additional 8,991 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AMERISAFE by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,303,801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $64,760,000 after purchasing an additional 38,869 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of AMERISAFE by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 727,578 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,841,000 after buying an additional 9,340 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AMERISAFE by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 679,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,325,000 after buying an additional 147,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of AMERISAFE by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 636,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,619,000 after buying an additional 18,771 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of AMERISAFE from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on shares of AMERISAFE in a report on Friday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $58.00 target price on the stock.

AMERISAFE Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMSF opened at $53.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.65 and a beta of 0.36. AMERISAFE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.72 and a 12 month high of $60.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $53.34 and its 200 day moving average is $51.99.

AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $79.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.59 million. AMERISAFE had a net margin of 18.86% and a return on equity of 16.12%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AMERISAFE, Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMERISAFE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. This is an increase from AMERISAFE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. AMERISAFE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.06%.

AMERISAFE Profile

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AMERISAFE, Inc is a holding company, which engages the provision of workers’ compensation insurance focuses on small to mid-sized employers. It focuses on the businesses in construction, Marine, oil and gas, trucking, logging and lumber, manufacturing, and agriculture. The company was founded by Millard E.