Stock Repurchase Plan Approved by MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG) Board

MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG) declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $750.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to repurchase up to 12.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MTG. Barclays raised their target price on shares of MGIC Investment from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of MGIC Investment from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MGIC Investment from $29.50 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MGIC Investment from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.50.

MGIC Investment Stock Performance

NYSE:MTG opened at $28.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a PE ratio of 9.13, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.45. MGIC Investment has a 1 year low of $24.14 and a 1 year high of $29.97.

MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The insurance provider reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.02. MGIC Investment had a net margin of 60.84% and a return on equity of 14.33%. MGIC Investment’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MGIC Investment will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

MGIC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 6th. MGIC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is 19.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Salvatore A. Miosi sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.27, for a total value of $818,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 454,245 shares in the company, valued at $12,387,261.15. This represents a 6.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy J. Mattke sold 139,202 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.49, for a total transaction of $3,687,460.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,118,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,615,952.45. This trade represents a 11.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 200,133 shares of company stock worth $5,342,700 over the last quarter. 1.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MGIC Investment Company Profile

MGIC Investment Corporation (NYSE: MTG) is a leading provider of private mortgage insurance in the United States. Established in 1957 as the nation’s first private mortgage insurer, MGIC helps lenders manage credit risk and facilitates homeownership by protecting mortgage loans against default. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company operates through its principal subsidiary, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation, and maintains relationships with a broad network of originators and servicers nationwide.

The company’s primary business activity involves issuing mortgage insurance policies that enable borrowers to purchase homes with down payments below traditional lending thresholds.