Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Donegal Group's stock rating has been downgraded from a "buy" to a "hold" by Wall Street Zen.
• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target for Donegal Group from $17.00 to $18.00, giving it a "market perform" rating.
• Recently, company insiders have sold a significant number of shares, reducing their holdings significantly, with a total of 147,769 shares sold in the last 90 days.

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Donegal Group from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th.

Donegal Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:DGICA traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $17.14. 243,783 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 128,841. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm's 50-day moving average is $18.64 and its 200-day moving average is $18.22. The stock has a market cap of $618.75 million, a P/E ratio of 7.20 and a beta of 0.01. Donegal Group has a 1-year low of $14.00 and a 1-year high of $21.12.

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $233.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $247.21 million. Donegal Group had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 8.33%. Equities research analysts expect that Donegal Group will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Vincent Anthony Viozzi sold 19,173 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.24, for a total transaction of $388,061.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 8,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at $164,814.32. This represents a 70.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Sanjay Pandey sold 12,982 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total transaction of $263,145.14. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 7,449 shares in the company, valued at $150,991.23. This represents a 63.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 76,769 shares of company stock worth $1,551,766. 3.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Donegal Group by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,804,968 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $27,923,000 after acquiring an additional 27,213 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Donegal Group by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 946,432 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $18,578,000 after purchasing an additional 19,174 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Donegal Group by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 429,106 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $6,638,000 after purchasing an additional 97,795 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Donegal Group by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 409,082 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $8,193,000 after purchasing an additional 25,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in Donegal Group by 33.0% in the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 356,154 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $7,132,000 after purchasing an additional 88,462 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.96% of the company's stock.

About Donegal Group

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.