Piper Sandler Cuts Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) Price Target to $85.00

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) had its target price lowered by Piper Sandler from $104.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Selective Insurance Group from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. JMP Securities restated a market perform rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Selective Insurance Group from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $104.00 to $99.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research note on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $98.67.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

Selective Insurance Group stock opened at $87.66 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a PE ratio of 15.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.54. Selective Insurance Group has a 12 month low of $81.00 and a 12 month high of $109.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $93.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.55.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The insurance provider reported ($1.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($2.59). Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 5.12%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Selective Insurance Group will post 6.22 EPS for the current year.

Selective Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Terrence W. Cavanaugh acquired 2,000 shares of Selective Insurance Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $85.85 per share, with a total value of $171,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 20,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,772,888.35. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO John J. Marchioni acquired 2,400 shares of Selective Insurance Group stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $83.56 per share, with a total value of $200,544.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 136,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,397,333.32. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Terrence W. Cavanaugh acquired 2,000 shares of Selective Insurance Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $85.85 per share, with a total value of $171,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 20,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,772,888.35. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 255 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Selective Insurance Group during the first quarter worth $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 81.5% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 323 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Selective Insurance Group during the first quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Selective Insurance Group during the fourth quarter worth $75,000. Institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

About Selective Insurance Group

Selective Insurance Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance products and services in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Standard Commercial Lines, Standard Personal Lines, E&S Lines, and Investments. It offers casualty insurance products that covers the financial consequences of employee injuries in the course of employment and bodily injury and/or property damage to a third party; property insurance products, which covers the accidental loss of an insured's real property, personal property, and/or earnings due to the property's loss; and flood insurance products.