Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $91.85 and last traded at $91.1780, with a volume of 54462 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $90.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SIGI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Selective Insurance Group from $82.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Selective Insurance Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.67.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.58. The company has a market capitalization of $5.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.46 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($0.12). Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 13.71% and a net margin of 8.39%.The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 7.81 EPS for the current year.

Selective Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.53%.

Institutional Trading of Selective Insurance Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,059,547 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $339,662,000 after buying an additional 1,462,838 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,660,758 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $138,976,000 after buying an additional 8,580 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 33.3% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,381,867 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $104,179,000 after buying an additional 345,348 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Selective Insurance Group by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,359,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $102,473,000 after acquiring an additional 44,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Selective Insurance Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,625,000. 82.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Selective Insurance Group

Selective Insurance Group, Inc is an insurance holding company headquartered in Branchville, New Jersey. The organization traces its roots to a regional provider of property and casualty coverage and became a publicly traded holding company following its initial public offering in 1999. Since its formation, Selective has expanded through strategic acquisitions and organic growth initiatives to broaden its product offerings and strengthen its market position.

The company’s core business encompasses a broad range of property and casualty insurance products designed to serve both commercial and personal lines customers.