Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.16 (NYSE:UVE)

Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:UVE) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 10th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of 0.16 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th.

Universal Insurance has a dividend payout ratio of 31.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Universal Insurance to earn $2.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.2%.

Universal Insurance Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE UVE opened at $20.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $581.18 million, a PE ratio of 7.91 and a beta of 0.84. Universal Insurance has a 1-year low of $11.15 and a 1-year high of $22.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $19.71 and a 200-day moving average of $17.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Universal Insurance (NYSE:UVE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.20. Universal Insurance had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 19.67%. The company had revenue of $375.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $328.12 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Universal Insurance will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Sean P. Downes sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.72, for a total transaction of $394,400.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,162,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,919,806.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 17.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UVE has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Universal Insurance in a report on Monday, April 1st. TheStreet upgraded shares of Universal Insurance from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Universal Insurance from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday.

Universal Insurance Company Profile

Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated insurance holding company in the United States. It develops, markets, and underwrites insurance products for personal residential insurance, such as homeowners, renters/tenants, condo unit owners, and dwelling/fire; and offers allied lines, coverage for other structures, and personal property, liability, and personal articles coverages.