Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) Price Target to $81.00

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) had its target price lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $82.00 to $81.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on SIGI. Zacks Research raised shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered Selective Insurance Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $81.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $81.60.

Selective Insurance Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ SIGI opened at $85.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $80.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.17 and a beta of 0.24. Selective Insurance Group has a fifty-two week low of $71.75 and a fifty-two week high of $96.49.

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

Selective Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. This is a positive change from Selective Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Selective Insurance Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 62.9% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,596,709 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,064 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 1.4% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,270,387 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $102,982,000 after purchasing an additional 17,511 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,150,662 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $99,705,000 after purchasing an additional 22,410 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised 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 worth $96,175,000 after purchasing an additional 63,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 897,554 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,773,000 after buying an additional 5,683 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

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.