While not a mind-blowing move, it is good to see that the Direct Line Insurance Group plc (LON:DLG) share price has gained 13% in the last three months. But over the last half decade, the stock has not performed well. You would have done a lot better buying an index fund, since the stock has dropped 46% in that half decade.

On a more encouraging note the company has added UK£179m to its market cap in just the last 7 days, so let's see if we can determine what's driven the five-year loss for shareholders.

View our latest analysis for Direct Line Insurance Group

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

In the last half decade Direct Line Insurance Group saw its share price fall as its EPS declined below zero. At present it's hard to make valid comparisons between EPS and the share price. However, we can say we'd expect to see a falling share price in this scenario.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Direct Line Insurance Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We'd be remiss not to mention the difference between Direct Line Insurance Group's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Dividends have been really beneficial for Direct Line Insurance Group shareholders, and that cash payout explains why its total shareholder loss of 26%, over the last 5 years, isn't as bad as the share price return.

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that Direct Line Insurance Group shareholders are down 18% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 0.4%. However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 5% over the last half decade. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. Before spending more time on Direct Line Insurance Group it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.