Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Reduces Stock Holdings in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP cut its holdings in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI – Get Rating) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,377,934 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 36,010 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Selective Insurance Group were worth $122,102,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 168,679 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $14,947,000 after purchasing an additional 44,347 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in Selective Insurance Group by 0.5% during the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 69,258 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,638,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the period. Simplex Trading LLC purchased a new position in shares of Selective Insurance Group in the 4th quarter worth about $169,000. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 201,039 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,814,000 after purchasing an additional 64,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,864,816 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $151,796,000 after purchasing an additional 51,488 shares during the period. 83.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on SIGI shares. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $107.00 to $104.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Bank of America lowered Selective Insurance Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $101.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Thursday. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.86.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

SIGI opened at $102.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $96.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.20. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $66.81 and a fifty-two week high of $104.37. The firm has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.63.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The insurance provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $999.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 13.38% and a net margin of 6.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Selective Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.06%.

About Selective Insurance Group

(Get Rating)

Selective Insurance Group, Inc is a New Jersey insurance holding company, which engages in the provision of property and casualty insurance products. It operates through the following segments: Standard Commercial Lines, Standard Personal Lines, E&S Lines, and Investments. The Standard Commercial Lines segment offers insurance products and services to commercial customers, such as non-profit organizations and local government agencies.