Heartland Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 32,147 Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)

Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 32,147 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,943,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SIGI. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 0.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 141,658 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,967,000 after buying an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,317 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $761,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 221.3% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,113 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $651,000 after acquiring an additional 4,899 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 151.9% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 83,562 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,815,000 after acquiring an additional 50,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group during the first quarter worth $225,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Selective Insurance Group from $93.00 to $92.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $88.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $90.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Selective Insurance Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.33.

Selective Insurance Group Trading Up 3.5%

NASDAQ:SIGI opened at $77.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.48. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.75 and a fifty-two week high of $103.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $86.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.30.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.55 by ($0.24). Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 12.61% and a net margin of 7.50%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.10) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 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 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Terrence W. Cavanaugh acquired 2,000 shares of Selective Insurance Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $75.72 per share, with a total value of $151,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 25,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,915,337.40. This trade represents a 8.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Joseph Eppers bought 1,402 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $76.82 per share, for a total transaction of $107,701.64. Following the purchase, the executive vice president directly owned 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $959,635.44. This represents a 12.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.