Employers Holdings (EIG) OKs 2nd Special Cash Dividend for 2022
Employers Holdings, Inc. EIG recently announced that the company’s board of directors approved a special cash dividend of $1.25 per share. This marks EIG’s second special dividend for 2022, signaling its confidence in its capital position and future operations.
The special dividend will be paid on Dec 20 to shareholders of record as of Dec 6, 2022. On Oct 27, 2022, it declared a quarterly dividend of 26 cents per share, payable on Nov 23. Thanks to its written premium and net investment income growth, Employers Holdings opts for significant shareholder value-boosting efforts. While written premiums grew 21% year to date, net investment income rose 14%.
In the third quarter, EIG repurchased 186,799 shares at a $39.72 per share average price. It had $491 million remaining in the share buyback fund. With the latest special dividend, the company eyes returning $119 million in capital to shareholders this year.
The total amount includes $29 million of share buybacks and $90 million of dividend payments. Its dividend yield of 2.3% is in line with the industry average.
Employers Holdings operates in the commercial property and casualty insurance industry with a focus on providing workers' compensation insurance and services. Its strong cash-generating abilities support its shareholder-friendly moves. In the first nine months of 2022, EIG generated $67.5 million in net cash from operations against net cash used in operations of $9.3 million a year ago.
Employers Holdings maintains a solid balance sheet with sufficient liquidity. At the third-quarter end, it had $2,630.3 million in investments, cash and cash equivalents, and no long-term debt.
Price Performance
Shares of the company improved 12% in the past three months compared with a 10.9% increase of the industry.
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Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider
Employers Holdings currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader finance space are XP Inc. XP, StoneX Group Inc. SNEX and NerdWallet, Inc. NRDS, all carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, XP is a leading financial products and services provider. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for XP’s 2022 bottom line is pegged at $1.42 per share, indicating 22.4% year-over-year growth.
New York-based StoneX Group works as a global financial services network. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SNEX’s current year bottom line is pegged at $8.50 per share, which increased 1.8% in the past 60 days.
Based in San Francisco, NerdWallet is a digital platform operator connecting individuals and businesses with financial products suppliers. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NRDS’ 2022 earnings signals a 74.4% improvement from a year ago.
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