Micah Woolstenhulme, a SVP at United Fire Group (USFC), recently bought 2,500 shares. The buy came to a total cost of $48,003, and increased his stake by 7%.
Woolstenhulme was a buyer last year for 1,000 shares. Two company directors were also buyers last year, as well as the company CFO. Two other directors and a major holder were sellers of shares last year, with insider sales slightly exceeding insider buys.
Overall, United Fire Group insiders own 18.2% of shares.
The property and casualty insurance company is up 24% over the past year, just slightly edging out the overall stock market. The company had a great year, with revenues rising 18% and with a 210% surge in earnings.
Even with that jump higher, shares trade at less than 14 times earnings. And the company trades at a discount to its book value, indicating that United Fire Group has the capacity to handle a surge in insurance claims.
Action to take: Investors may like shares here, as the stock has been trending higher, but recently pulled back from recent highs. At current prices, today’s buyers can also get a 2.4% dividend.
For traders, options are limited. But the May $30 calls, last trading with a bid/ask spread of about $2.50, could see mid-to-high double-digit returns on a continued uptrend in the months ahead.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.