Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.17 Per Share

Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 19th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of 0.1725 per share by the insurance provider on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 4th. This is a positive change from Donegal Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

Donegal Group has raised its dividend by an average of 4.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 20 years. Donegal Group has a dividend payout ratio of 53.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Donegal Group to earn $1.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.69 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.5%.

Donegal Group Price Performance

DGICA stock opened at $15.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Donegal Group has a 1 year low of $12.26 and a 1 year high of $17.00. The stock has a market cap of $527.42 million, a PE ratio of 20.47 and a beta of -0.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $15.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.67.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Donegal Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Donegal Group news, CAO David Benjamin Bawel sold 9,000 shares of Donegal Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.50, for a total value of $139,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 19,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $304,807.50. The trade was a 31.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Barry C. Huber sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.60, for a total transaction of $41,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,867 shares in the company, valued at $246,792.20. This represents a 14.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 616,809 shares of company stock worth $10,026,700 and sold 379,564 shares worth $6,212,273. Corporate insiders own 6.63% of the company’s stock.

Donegal Group Company Profile

Donegal Group Inc, an insurance holding company, provides property and casualty insurance to businesses and individuals. It operates through three segments: Investment Function, Personal Lines of Insurance, and Commercial Lines of Insurance. The company offers private passenger automobile policies that provide protection against liability for bodily injury and property damage arising from automobile accidents, as well as protection against loss from damage to automobiles; and homeowners policies, which provide coverage for damage to residences and their contents from a range of perils, including fire, lightning, windstorm, and theft, as well as liability of the insured arising from injury to other persons or their property.