Short Interest in Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG) Decreases By 24.5%

Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 363,000 shares, a decline of 24.5% from the January 31st total of 481,100 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 131,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut Employers from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th.

Employers Trading Down 1.6 %

EIG traded down $0.81 on Thursday, hitting $49.41. 177,160 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 117,840. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.69. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.27. Employers has a fifty-two week low of $38.67 and a fifty-two week high of $54.44.

Employers (NYSE:EIG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $216.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $221.18 million. Employers had a net margin of 13.47% and a return on equity of 8.99%. On average, equities analysts predict that Employers will post 3.63 EPS for the current year.

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Employers Announces Dividend

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 $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Employers's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.48%.

Insider Activity at Employers

In related news, Director James R. Kroner sold 2,000 shares of Employers stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.90, for a total value of $101,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,458 shares in the company, valued at $1,295,812.20. The trade was a 7.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ann Marie Smith sold 1,385 shares of Employers stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.24, for a total value of $70,967.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,801 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $450,963.24. This represents a 13.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,385 shares of company stock worth $276,267 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Employers

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EIG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Employers in the 4th quarter valued at $8,935,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Employers in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,451,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Employers by 158.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 205,698 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $10,538,000 after purchasing an additional 126,186 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Employers during the fourth quarter worth about $4,688,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Employers by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 565,154 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,953,000 after purchasing an additional 48,844 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.49% of the company's stock.

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.