Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) Major Shareholder Mutual Insurance Co Donegal Acquires 8,500 Shares of Stock

Donegal Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) major shareholder Mutual Insurance Co Donegal purchased 8,500 shares of Donegal Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.33 per share, for a total transaction of $147,305.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 14,022,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,006,129.73. The trade was a 0.06% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Mutual Insurance Co Donegal also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, May 15th, Mutual Insurance Co Donegal purchased 8,500 shares of Donegal Group stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.16 per share, for a total transaction of $145,860.00.
• On Wednesday, May 13th, Mutual Insurance Co Donegal purchased 8,500 shares of Donegal Group stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.86 per share, for a total transaction of $143,310.00.
• On Monday, May 11th, Mutual Insurance Co Donegal purchased 8,500 shares of Donegal Group stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.18 per share, for a total transaction of $146,030.00.
• On Friday, May 8th, Mutual Insurance Co Donegal purchased 8,077 shares of Donegal Group stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.13 per share, for a total transaction of $138,359.01.
• On Thursday, May 7th, Mutual Insurance Co Donegal purchased 8,500 shares of Donegal Group stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.06 per share, for a total transaction of $145,010.00.
• On Tuesday, May 5th, Mutual Insurance Co Donegal purchased 8,500 shares of Donegal Group stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.50 per share, for a total transaction of $140,250.00.
• On Tuesday, March 3rd, Mutual Insurance Co Donegal purchased 9,000 shares of Donegal Group stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.63 per share, for a total transaction of $158,670.00.

Donegal Group Stock Performance

Shares of DGICA stock opened at $17.40 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39. Donegal Group, Inc. has a one year low of $16.11 and a one year high of $21.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $644.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72 and a beta of 0.01.

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.08). Donegal Group had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 6.77%.The company had revenue of $236.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $247.83 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Donegal Group, Inc. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Donegal Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.1925 per share. This represents a $0.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. This is a positive change from Donegal Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 1st. Donegal Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.02%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Donegal Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Donegal Group by 0.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,737,266 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,846,000 after purchasing an additional 7,345 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Donegal Group by 4.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,008,217 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $19,549,000 after purchasing an additional 39,181 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Donegal Group by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 534,703 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,685,000 after purchasing an additional 11,891 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Donegal Group by 5.8% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 392,711 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,747,000 after purchasing an additional 21,500 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Donegal Group by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 391,729 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,827,000 after purchasing an additional 3,290 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on DGICA. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Donegal Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Donegal Group from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

About Donegal Group

Donegal Group, Inc (NASDAQ: DGICA) is a property and casualty insurance holding company headquartered in Marietta, Pennsylvania. Through a network of independent agencies, the company offers a suite of personal and commercial insurance products. Its underwriting subsidiaries provide homeowners, automobile, farmowner, commercial multi-peril, surety and umbrella coverages designed to meet the needs of individuals, families and businesses.

The company’s origins date back to 1925 with the formation of Donegal Mutual Insurance Company to serve rural communities in Pennsylvania.