Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Acquires 19,826 Shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) by 14.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 155,565 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,826 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.26% of Selective Insurance Group worth $14,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 367,987 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,767,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 717,946 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $66,984,000 after purchasing an additional 101,045 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 319.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 129,184 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,053,000 after buying an additional 98,390 shares during the period. Finally, Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new position in shares of Selective Insurance Group during the third quarter worth about $8,656,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SIGI shares. Bank of America upped their price target on Selective Insurance Group from $96.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $95.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Selective Insurance Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Selective Insurance Group news, CAO Anthony D. Harnett sold 1,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total transaction of $130,024.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,946 shares in the company, valued at $1,476,759.06. This trade represents a 8.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of SIGI opened at $95.98 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.87 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.85. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $81.00 and a 1-year high of $109.58.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.29). Selective Insurance Group had a net margin of 5.01% and a return on equity of 8.11%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is an increase from Selective Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.97%.

Selective Insurance Group Company 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.