AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF – Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 143,500 shares, a growth of 6.8% from the February 13th total of 134,400 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 83,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Institutional Trading of AMERISAFE

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $64,775,000 after acquiring an additional 8,991 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AMERISAFE by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,331,147 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $62,204,000 after purchasing an additional 32,062 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of AMERISAFE by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 727,578 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,841,000 after purchasing an additional 9,340 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AMERISAFE by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 679,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,325,000 after purchasing an additional 147,618 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of AMERISAFE by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 636,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,619,000 after purchasing an additional 18,771 shares during the period. 97.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AMERISAFE Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMSF opened at $49.51 on Thursday. AMERISAFE has a 1-year low of $44.72 and a 1-year high of $60.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $53.29 and a 200-day moving average of $52.16. The company has a market capitalization of $948.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.19 and a beta of 0.34.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $79.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.59 million. AMERISAFE had a return on equity of 16.12% and a net margin of 18.86%. Research analysts expect that AMERISAFE will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMERISAFE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th. This is an increase from AMERISAFE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. AMERISAFE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMSF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TheStreet upgraded AMERISAFE from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on AMERISAFE in a research note on Friday, February 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company.

About AMERISAFE

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AMERISAFE, Inc engages the provision of workers’ compensation insurance focused on small to mid-sized employers. The firm covers the construction, trucking, logging and lumber, agriculture, manufacturing, telecommunications, and maritime industries. The company was founded by Millard E. Morris in 1985 and is headquartered in DeRidder, LA.