Ascent Group LLC Buys 16,102 Shares of Donegal Group, Inc. $DGICA

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC increased its ownership in Donegal Group, Inc. by 74.6%, acquiring an additional 16,102 shares, bringing its total holdings to approximately 37,695 shares valued at $755,000.
• Donegal Group recently reported earnings of $0.43 per share, exceeding expectations, while the company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.1825 per share, yielding 3.8%.
• Multiple analysts have issued ratings on Donegal Group, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and a price target of $18.00, indicating favorable sentiment towards the stock's performance.

Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in Donegal Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA - Free Report) by 74.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,695 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 16,102 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Donegal Group worth $755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Donegal Group by 2.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Donegal Group by 13.6% in the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 267,692 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $5,255,000 after buying an additional 31,946 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Donegal Group by 40.9% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 158,823 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,115,000 after buying an additional 46,095 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Donegal Group by 7.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 109,791 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,155,000 after buying an additional 8,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in shares of Donegal Group by 2.6% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 107,113 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,103,000 after buying an additional 2,721 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.96% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DGICA shares. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Donegal Group in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen cut Donegal Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Janney Montgomery Scott raised Donegal Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Donegal Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $18.00.

Donegal Group Stock Performance

DGICA stock opened at $19.46 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. Donegal Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $14.12 and a 1 year high of $21.12. The company has a market cap of $710.47 million and a P/E ratio of 8.18. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $18.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.84.

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.07. Donegal Group had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 8.33%.The business had revenue of $233.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $247.21 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Donegal Group, Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Donegal Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $0.1825 per share. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. Donegal Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Donegal Group news, major shareholder Mutual Insurance Co Donegal purchased 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $19.53 per share, for a total transaction of $390,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 13,654,579 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $266,673,927.87. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have purchased 212,958 shares of company stock worth $3,965,746 over the last three months. 6.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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