New York Life Investment Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Safety Insurance Group, Inc. $SAFT

New York Life Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 16,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,743,000. New York Life Investment Management LLC owned 0.11% of Safety Insurance Group as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Safety Insurance Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $171,385,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Safety Insurance Group by 0.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 711,806 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $51,708,000 after acquiring an additional 3,319 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Safety Insurance Group during the second quarter valued at $10,513,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Safety Insurance Group by 0.3% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 140,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,199,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 2.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 72,384 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,258,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Safety Insurance Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Safety Insurance Group Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ SAFT traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $104.47. The stock had a trading volume of 45,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 119,044. Safety Insurance Group, Inc. has a one year low of $67.93 and a one year high of $104.54. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.86 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.39.

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The insurance provider reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.70. Safety Insurance Group had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 5.46%. The firm had revenue of $327.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $327.77 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Safety Insurance Group, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Safety Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 1st. Safety Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.99%.

Safety Insurance Group Profile

Safety Insurance Group, Inc. is a property and casualty insurance holding company that provides coverage through its insurance subsidiaries. Its core products include private passenger automobile, commercial automobile and homeowners insurance. The company also offers additional property and casualty products, including dwelling fire, businessowners and commercial umbrella coverage. It distributes its policies through a network of independent insurance agents. Founded in 1979, Safety Insurance serves customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.