Nicholas Investment Partners LP Makes New $1.93 Million Investment in HCI Group, Inc. $HCI

Nicholas Investment Partners LP bought a new stake in HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 11,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,928,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of HCI Group by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 839,621 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,947,000 after purchasing an additional 32,167 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in HCI Group by 934.5% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 44,257 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,484,000 after buying an additional 39,979 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in HCI Group by 642.7% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 67,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,931,000 after buying an additional 58,377 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in HCI Group in the first quarter valued at about $2,302,000. Finally, Precision Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in HCI Group in the first quarter valued at about $934,000. 86.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered HCI Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings cut HCI Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of HCI Group in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on HCI Group in a report on Thursday, July 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research cut HCI Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.67.

HCI Group Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE HCI opened at $185.19 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $178.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $165.09. The company has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.04. HCI Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.75 and a 12-month high of $210.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

HCI Group (NYSE:HCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The insurance provider reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.56. HCI Group had a net margin of 32.60% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The business had revenue of $246.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $247.43 million. Equities analysts anticipate that HCI Group, Inc. will post 19.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCI Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. HCI Group’s dividend payout ratio is 6.90%.

HCI Group Profile

HCI Group, Inc (NYSE: HCI) is a holding company whose principal business is the underwriting and issuance of property and casualty insurance through its insurance subsidiaries. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company focuses primarily on personal-line insurance products, writing homeowners, condominium, renters and mobile home policies. HCI Group also offers wind-only and flood coverage in coastal regions across the state, providing tailored solutions to both coastal and non-coastal communities.

The company distributes its insurance products through a network of independent agents and brokers, leveraging local market expertise to assess risk and deliver personalized service.