D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Raises Stake in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 298,890 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 6,920 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.49% of Selective Insurance Group worth $27,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Selective Insurance Group during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Selective Insurance Group during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Selective Insurance Group by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 429 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 957.1% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 444 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 64.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 485 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SIGI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $95.00 to $87.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Selective Insurance Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.50.

Selective Insurance Group Trading Down 0.0%

NASDAQ SIGI opened at $89.78 on Monday. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $78.13 and a 12-month high of $103.56. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.88 and a beta of 0.51.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.86 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 7.33% and a net margin of 4.26%. The business's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Selective Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. Selective Insurance Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Selective Insurance Group

In related news, CAO Anthony D. Harnett sold 1,352 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.06, for a total transaction of $117,705.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,388,258.76. This trade represents a 7.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

About Selective Insurance Group

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.