Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) Upgraded to Outperform by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $99.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $104.00.

SIGI has been the topic of several other reports. JMP Securities reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Piper Sandler reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $104.00 price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $98.67.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SIGI opened at $88.85 on Monday. Selective Insurance Group has a fifty-two week low of $81.00 and a fifty-two week high of $109.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Selective Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. Selective Insurance Group’s payout ratio is presently 24.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Selective Insurance Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,574,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $717,735,000 after buying an additional 367,987 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 188.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,450,417 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $144,287,000 after buying an additional 947,147 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,190,389 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $118,420,000 after buying an additional 149,901 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 988,846 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $92,783,000 after buying an additional 11,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 811,919 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $80,770,000 after buying an additional 17,657 shares in the last quarter. 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.