JMP Securities Reaffirms Market Perform Rating for Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI)

JMP Securities reiterated their market perform rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other research firms have also commented on SIGI. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Selective Insurance Group from $104.00 to $85.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Selective Insurance Group from $103.00 to $96.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Selective Insurance Group from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Selective Insurance Group from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $104.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $98.67.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of SIGI stock opened at $88.85 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.54. Selective Insurance Group has a one year low of $81.00 and a one year high of $109.58.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The insurance provider reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($2.59). The company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a net margin of 5.12% and a return on equity of 8.80%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Selective Insurance Group will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Selective Insurance Group’s payout ratio is currently 24.74%.

Insider Transactions at Selective Insurance Group

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Selective Insurance Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SIGI. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 188.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,450,417 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $144,287,000 after purchasing an additional 947,147 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Selective Insurance Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $67,290,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in Selective Insurance Group in the first quarter valued at about $55,468,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,574,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $717,735,000 after acquiring an additional 367,987 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 2,195.0% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 257,273 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,594,000 after acquiring an additional 246,063 shares during the period. 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.