Old Republic International Co. (NYSE:ORI) Increases Dividend to $0.29 Per Share

Old Republic International Co. (NYSE:ORI) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 28th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.29 per share by the insurance provider on Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. This is a boost from Old Republic International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

Old Republic International has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 44 consecutive years. Old Republic International has a dividend payout ratio of 30.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Old Republic International to earn $3.33 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.8%.

Old Republic International Price Performance

Old Republic International stock traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.30. 55,481 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,065,889. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.28. Old Republic International has a 12-month low of $28.59 and a 12-month high of $39.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.02. The company has a market capitalization of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57 and a beta of 0.88.

Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.19. Old Republic International had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 20.32%. Analysts forecast that Old Republic International will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Carolyn Monroe sold 9,188 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total transaction of $333,983.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 33,556 shares in the company, valued at $1,219,760.60. This represents a 21.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jeffrey Lange sold 1,098 shares of Old Republic International stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.56, for a total value of $40,142.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 34,679 shares in the company, valued at $1,267,864.24. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Old Republic International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday.

About Old Republic International

Old Republic International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the insurance underwriting and related services business primarily in the United States and Canada. It operates through three segments: General Insurance, Title Insurance, and Republic Financial Indemnity Group Run-off Business.