MetLife Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)

MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) by 2.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 64,692 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,302 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Selective Insurance Group were worth $6,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SIGI. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 5,101 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Selective Insurance Group by 59.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 35,491 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,311,000 after buying an additional 13,210 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Selective Insurance Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,415,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,468,801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $510,239,000 after buying an additional 1,216,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its position in Selective Insurance Group by 95.5% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 28,196 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,631,000 after purchasing an additional 13,770 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SIGI shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $96.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $96.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Selective Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.67.

Insider Transactions at Selective Insurance Group

In other news, CAO Anthony D. Harnett sold 1,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total transaction of $130,024.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,946 shares in the company, valued at $1,476,759.06. This trade represents a 8.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Selective Insurance Group Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of SIGI stock opened at $102.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $95.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.96. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $81.00 and a 1-year high of $109.58.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.29). The business had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 8.11% and a net margin of 5.01%. Selective Insurance Group’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.51 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This is an increase from Selective Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.97%.

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.