Quest Partners LLC Buys 7,336 Shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)

Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) by 2,486.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,336 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Selective Insurance Group were worth $712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 4.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,416,957 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $132,949,000 after purchasing an additional 62,699 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,574,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $717,735,000 after buying an additional 367,987 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 179,741 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $16,770,000 after buying an additional 16,689 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 9.0% during the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 170,281 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,887,000 after acquiring an additional 14,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 24.8% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 15,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SIGI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised Selective Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $96.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $96.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.67.

Selective Insurance Group Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ SIGI opened at $96.38 on Friday. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $81.00 and a 52 week high of $109.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96 and a beta of 0.57.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.29). The business had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 8.11% and a net margin of 5.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. This is an increase from Selective Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.97%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Anthony D. Harnett sold 1,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total value of $130,024.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,476,759.06. This trade represents a 8.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Selective Insurance Group Profile

Selective Insurance Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance products and services in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Standard Commercial Lines, Standard Personal Lines, E&S Lines, and Investments. It offers casualty insurance products that covers the financial consequences of employee injuries in the course of employment and bodily injury and/or property damage to a third party; property insurance products, which covers the accidental loss of an insured's real property, personal property, and/or earnings due to the property's loss; and flood insurance products.