10,862 Shares in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. $SIGI Acquired by Sterling Financial Planning Inc.

Sterling Financial Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 10,862 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,054,000. Selective Insurance Group makes up approximately 0.3% of Sterling Financial Planning Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SIGI. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group in the second quarter worth $754,557,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,660,758 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $138,976,000 after acquiring an additional 8,580 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 33.3% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,381,867 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $104,179,000 after acquiring an additional 345,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SIGI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Selective Insurance Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Selective Insurance Group from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Selective Insurance Group from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Selective Insurance Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.33.

Selective Insurance Group Stock Performance

SIGI opened at $91.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a PE ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 0.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $95.19 and a 200-day moving average of $87.45. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $72.78 and a 52-week high of $100.40.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 14.51% and a net margin of 9.10%.During the same period last year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 8.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Selective Insurance Group

In related news, EVP Michael H. Lanza sold 17,100 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,557,772.60. This represents a 50.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.82% 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.