Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) Stock Rating Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

SIGI has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Selective Insurance Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.83.

Selective Insurance Group Stock Performance

Shares of SIGI stock opened at $98.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. Selective Insurance Group has a 12 month low of $72.78 and a 12 month high of $101.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $89.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 0.22.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The insurance provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 9.40%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Selective Insurance Group will post 8.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is a boost from Selective Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. Selective Insurance Group’s payout ratio is currently 20.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Cynthia Nicholson sold 3,691 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.71, for a total transaction of $364,338.61. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 17,463 shares in the company, valued at $1,723,772.73. This trade represents a 17.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Selective Insurance Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SIGI. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Selective Insurance Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $754,557,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Selective Insurance Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $77,149,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,423,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Selective Insurance Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $47,558,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Selective Insurance Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $47,482,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

About Selective Insurance Group

Selective Insurance Group, Inc is a holding company for a group of property and casualty insurance subsidiaries. Founded in 1926 and headquartered in Branchville, New Jersey, the company provides insurance products and related services primarily through a network of independent agents.

Selective serves commercial, personal and public-sector customers. Its commercial offerings include business owners policies, commercial automobile, workers’ compensation, general liability, commercial property and other specialty coverages.