7,672 Shares in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. $SIGI Bought by Bayforest Capital Ltd

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired 7,672 shares of Selective Insurance Group, valued at approximately $702,000, indicating significant investor interest during the first quarter.
• Multiple analysts have lowered their ratings and price targets for Selective Insurance Group, with Morgan Stanley switching to an "underweight" rating and setting a price target of $72.00.
• Selective Insurance Group's CEO John J. Marchioni purchased 3,200 shares for about $249,248, reflecting insider confidence in the company's performance.

Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,672 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $702,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SIGI. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 561.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 580,274 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $53,118,000 after buying an additional 492,568 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Selective Insurance Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,943,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 36.2% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,128,252 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $103,280,000 after buying an additional 299,925 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 245.7% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 284,669 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $26,622,000 after buying an additional 202,318 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 273.5% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 261,165 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $23,907,000 after buying an additional 191,237 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.88% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Selective Insurance Group

In related news, Director Robert Kelly Doherty purchased 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $77.00 per share, with a total value of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 27,110 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,087,470. This represents a 5.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas A. Mccarthy acquired 2,500 shares of Selective Insurance Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $77.42 per share, for a total transaction of $193,550.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 18,746 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,451,315.32. The trade was a 15.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 10,602 shares of company stock valued at $817,440. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on SIGI. BMO Capital Markets set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Selective Insurance Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $92.00 to $84.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered 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 report on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $87.33.

Selective Insurance Group Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of SIGI stock traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $79.01. 384,209 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 459,823. 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 quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 0.44. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $80.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.16.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.10) EPS. Research analysts predict that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Selective Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Selective Insurance Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.88%.

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.