New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 46,666 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,364,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SIGI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Selective Insurance Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $93,409,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 478,609 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $44,760,000 after purchasing an additional 73,456 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in Selective Insurance Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $524,000. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. raised its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 59.7% in the fourth quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 24,060 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,250,000 after purchasing an additional 8,995 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 54,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,079,000 after buying an additional 2,366 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on SIGI shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $93.00 target price (down previously from $116.00) on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Selective Insurance Group from $95.00 to $87.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.71.

Selective Insurance Group Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of SIGI opened at $91.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.34. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.81. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $78.13 and a 52 week high of $108.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.51 and a beta of 0.54.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by ($0.37). Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 7.33% and a net margin of 4.26%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Selective Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.20%.

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.