Ameriprise Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 22,989 Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 22,989 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $356,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Donegal Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DGICA. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Donegal Group during the fourth quarter worth $68,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Donegal Group during the fourth quarter worth $128,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Donegal Group during the fourth quarter worth $162,000. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Donegal Group during the fourth quarter worth $177,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Donegal Group during the fourth quarter worth $195,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.96% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Donegal Group

In other news, VP William Albert Folmar sold 18,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.67, for a total value of $372,060.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 950 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,636.50. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David Benjamin Bawel sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.83, for a total value of $178,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $404,869.11. This represents a 30.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 141,839 shares of company stock worth $2,726,856 and have sold 181,193 shares worth $3,584,302. Corporate insiders own 6.63% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Donegal Group from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Donegal Group from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th.

Donegal Group Stock Down 0.5%

Donegal Group stock traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $19.48. 85,219 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 89,209. Donegal Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.26 and a 1-year high of $21.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $19.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $703.17 million, a P/E ratio of 12.82 and a beta of 0.02.

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.38. Donegal Group had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 5.14%. The company had revenue of $245.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.73 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Donegal Group Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Donegal Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.1825 per share. This is a positive change from Donegal Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 1st. Donegal Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.61%.

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.