Continuing with the endeavor to enhance its shareholders value,
the Board of Directors of
HCC Insurance Holdings Inc.
(
HCC
), approved a share buyback program. Per the approval, the company
is authorized to repurchase shares worth $300 million.
Following the announcement, the share prices of the company
increased upwards. It is likely that continuous efforts on the
company's part to boost shareholders' value and reinstated investor
confidence helped the share price move upwards. The share price
ascended 0.5% to close at $32.52 as on Monday.
The current approval replaces the existing $300 million share
buyback program approved on August 25, 2011. Under the previous
authorization, the remaining $98.0 million will no longer be
utilized.
The company stated that it considers repurchasing shares as a
prudent capital management strategy. We believe the new
authorization coupled with recent dividend hike also emphasizes on
the inherent strength of its liquidity.
HCC Insurance Holdings aggressively buys back shares. The company
spent $59.5 million to buyback 1.9 million shares in the second
quarter.
W.R. Berkley Corp.
(
WRB
), which closely competes with HCC Insurance Holdings, recently
announced that its Board has increased its share repurchase
authorization to 10 million shares.
Besides buying back shares, HCC Insurance Holdings also hikes
dividend every year to return more value to the shareholders.
Recently, the Board approved a 6.5% increase in its quarterly cash
dividend, marking the 16th consecutive year of dividend rise for
the company. Also, it is the 66th consecutive quarter in which the
company is paying a cash dividend.
The increased dividend of 16.5 cents per share will be paid on
October 15, 2012, to shareholders of record as of October 1. The
dividend yield of the company is 2.04%, relatively better than the
industry yield of 1.68% and of W.R. Berkley with a yield of 0.96%
The quantitative Zacks Rank for HCC Insurance Holdings is currently
"2", indicating slight upward boost on the shares over the near
term.
HCC INS HLDGS (HCC): Free Stock Analysis Report
BERKLEY (WR) CP (WRB): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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