Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $11.94 Million Stake in Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its position in Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 233,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,849 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Employers were worth $11,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Employers by 300.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,991,000 after acquiring an additional 31,131 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Employers by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,448 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Employers by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 79,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,814,000 after purchasing an additional 12,422 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Employers by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 48,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,350,000 after buying an additional 9,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Employers by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 14,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $708,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. 80.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at Employers

In other news, insider Ann Marie Smith sold 1,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.24, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 13.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Kroner sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.50, for a total transaction of $51,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,208,087. This represents a 4.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,385 shares of company stock worth $276,267. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Employers Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EIG opened at $50.38 on Friday. Employers Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $38.67 and a one year high of $54.44. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 0.21. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.95.

Employers (NYSE:EIG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.07. Employers had a return on equity of 8.99% and a net margin of 13.47%. The company had revenue of $216.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $221.18 million. As a group, analysts expect that Employers Holdings, Inc. will post 3.63 EPS for the current year.

Employers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Employers’s payout ratio is 25.48%.

Employers Company Profile

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.