AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) Short Interest Update

AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) was the target of a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 337,800 shares, a growth of 9.1% from the March 31st total of 309,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 140,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of AMERISAFE

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in AMERISAFE by 209.8% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,508 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 3,730 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of AMERISAFE by 132.8% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 35,128 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,762,000 after buying an additional 20,040 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of AMERISAFE by 32.2% in the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 7,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $369,000 after buying an additional 1,792 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in AMERISAFE by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,901 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in AMERISAFE by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 678,321 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,732,000 after purchasing an additional 105,414 shares during the last quarter. 97.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AMSF. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of AMERISAFE in a report on Monday, April 15th. TheStreet upgraded shares of AMERISAFE from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of AMERISAFE from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th.

AMERISAFE Price Performance

AMERISAFE stock opened at $45.60 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.42. The company has a market cap of $872.78 million, a P/E ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 0.32. AMERISAFE has a fifty-two week low of $44.61 and a fifty-two week high of $57.06.

AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The insurance provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $80.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.22 million. AMERISAFE had a net margin of 19.97% and a return on equity of 16.76%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that AMERISAFE will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMERISAFE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. AMERISAFE’s payout ratio is presently 46.11%.

AMERISAFE Company Profile

AMERISAFE, Inc, an insurance holding company, underwrites workers' compensation insurance in the United States. The company provides benefits to injured employees for temporary or permanent disability, death, and medical and hospital expenses. It sells its products through retail and wholesale brokers and agents; and small and mid-sized employers engaged in hazardous industries, including construction, trucking, logging and lumber, agriculture, manufacturing, telecommunications, and maritime.