Analysts Set Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) Target Price at $98.71

Shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $95.17.

SIGI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $95.00 to $87.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $93.00 target price (down previously from $116.00) on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SIGI. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 171.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 114,790 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,711,000 after acquiring an additional 72,530 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 405,153 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,801,000 after purchasing an additional 7,563 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 38.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 1,747 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 249.8% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 82,351 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,683,000 after purchasing an additional 58,808 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in Selective Insurance Group in the third quarter valued at about $626,000. Institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of SIGI stock opened at $86.33 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.85. Selective Insurance Group has a one year low of $78.13 and a one year high of $105.86. The firm has a market cap of $5.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.99 by ($0.37). Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 7.33% and a net margin of 4.26%. On average, analysts expect that Selective Insurance Group will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. Selective Insurance Group’s payout ratio is 47.20%.

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.