HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI) Short Interest Update

HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,210,000 shares, an increase of 7.1% from the September 30th total of 1,130,000 shares. Currently, 14.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 158,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HCI. Compass Point reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of HCI Group in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of HCI Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of HCI Group in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, HCI Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.25.

HCI Group Price Performance

Shares of HCI traded down $1.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $112.17. 67,006 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 144,977. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $106.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.41. The company has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.94 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. HCI Group has a 1 year low of $61.23 and a 1 year high of $124.00.

HCI Group (NYSE:HCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The insurance provider reported $4.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $206.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.67 million. HCI Group had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 44.01%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that HCI Group will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

HCI Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. HCI Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.51%.

Institutional Trading of HCI Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCI. Amalgamated Bank increased its position in shares of HCI Group by 10.3% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of HCI Group by 1.5% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 10,393 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors increased its position in shares of HCI Group by 8.0% in the third quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors now owns 84,357 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $9,031,000 after acquiring an additional 6,237 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of HCI Group by 49.1% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 911 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of HCI Group by 11.8% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 4,815 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $515,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the period. 86.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About HCI Group

HCI Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the property and casualty insurance, insurance management, reinsurance, real estate, and information technology businesses in Florida. It provides residential insurance products, such as homeowners, fire, flood, and wind-only insurance to homeowners, condominium owners, and tenants for properties, as well as offers reinsurance programs.