Selective Insurance Group, Inc. $SIGI Shares Bought by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) by 4,903.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 347,933 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 340,979 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.57% of Selective Insurance Group worth $30,148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,756,225 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $618,465,000 after acquiring an additional 135,324 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in Selective Insurance Group by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,150,662 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $99,705,000 after acquiring an additional 22,410 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 6.0% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,109,922 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $96,175,000 after purchasing an additional 63,255 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 0.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 891,871 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $81,642,000 after purchasing an additional 7,641 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 8.4% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 805,704 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $73,755,000 after purchasing an additional 62,503 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on SIGI. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $81.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Selective Insurance Group in a report on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research raised Selective Insurance Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Selective Insurance Group from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $81.80.

Selective Insurance Group Stock Up 0.4%

SIGI stock opened at $79.42 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $79.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.91. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.75 and a 12 month high of $103.56. The company has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.24 and a beta of 0.39.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.35 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 12.96% and a net margin of 7.78%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Selective Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.50%.

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.