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Radian Group (RDN) Ups Share Buyback Authorization by $200M

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The board of directors of Radian Group (RDN - Free Report) approved a $200 million increase in its share buyback program to return more value to investors. The latest authorization will allow the company to spend up to $237 million to repurchase its common stock through Aug 31, 2022.

In the first half of 2021, Radian repurchased about $99 million worth shares with another $62 million in July and is thus left with $37 million remaining under its previous authorization. Share repurchases benefit the company’s earnings per share, book value and shareholder equity by reducing shares outstanding.

Radian Group maintains a solid balance sheet with sufficient liquidity and strong cash flows.  It boasts a strong capital position with $923 million of available liquidity. The company also has a $267.5 million credit facility, which it extended this month through January 2022.

A strong capital position helps Radian Group deploy capital via share repurchases and dividend hikes that enhance shareholder value. In May 2021, the board of directors hiked its quarterly dividend by 12%, thus growing at a seven-year CAGR (2014-2021) of 83.5%. Its current dividend yield of 2.2% betters the industry average of 1.9%. In the past five years, Radian bought back 35 million shares for $739 million and paid about $155 million through dividend.

The company remains focused on improving its mortgage insurance portfolio, the main catalyst of long-term earnings growth. Given the increase in persistency, insurance in force is expected to rise going forward, thereby enhancing the company’s strong foundation for future earnings. Radian presently estimates the private mortgage insurance market to be between $550 billion and $600 billion, the second-highest MI volume year in history. The company thus remain posed to benefit from the opportunity.

Hence, we remain optimistic about Radian’s efforts in further improving capital and liquidity position that will not only allow the company to return more value to investors but also accelerate near-term growth.  

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) mortgage insurer have gained 54.2% in the past year, outperforming the industry’s growth of 33.2%. Focus on core business and services with higher-growth potential, ensuring predictable and recurring fee-based revenue stream, should help the company retain the momentum.

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Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the same space include American International Group (AIG - Free Report) , CNO Financial Group (CNO - Free Report) and MetLife (MET - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

American International delivered an earnings surprise of 27.73% in the last reported quarter..

CNO Financial delivered an earnings surprise of 22.22% in the last reported quarter.

MetLife delivered an earnings surprise of 47.20% in the last reported quarter.



 


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