Legal & General Group Plc Takes $8.35 Million Position in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. $SIGI

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 86,065 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,349,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.14% of Selective Insurance Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Selective Insurance Group during the second quarter valued at $754,557,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,059,547 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $339,662,000 after buying an additional 1,462,838 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Selective Insurance Group in the 4th quarter worth about $65,625,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 239.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,036,519 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $86,726,000 after buying an additional 730,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Selective Insurance Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $47,482,000. 82.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael H. Lanza sold 17,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.04, for a total transaction of $1,608,084.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,565 shares in the company, valued at $1,557,772.60. This trade represents a 50.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SIGI. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $101.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Selective Insurance Group from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.33.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of Selective Insurance Group stock opened at $91.21 on Wednesday. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a one year low of $72.78 and a one year high of $100.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $95.10 and its 200 day moving average is $87.63. The stock has a market cap of $5.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.32 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.29. Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 14.51% and a net margin of 9.10%.The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 8.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Selective Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.34%.

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.