Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Donegal Group from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th.

Donegal Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:DGICA opened at $16.92 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $610.81 million, a PE ratio of 7.11 and a beta of 0.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Donegal Group has a twelve month low of $14.00 and a twelve month high of $21.12.

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.43 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $233.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $247.21 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Donegal Group will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jeffrey Dean Miller sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.83, for a total transaction of $475,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 23,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $475,523.40. This represents a 50.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Vincent Anthony Viozzi sold 19,173 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.24, for a total value of $388,061.52. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,143 shares in the company, valued at $164,814.32. This represents a 70.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 147,769 shares of company stock valued at $2,959,696. 6.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Donegal Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DGICA. Jump Financial LLC increased its stake in Donegal Group by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 17,952 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Donegal Group by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,578 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Donegal Group by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 29,572 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in Donegal Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 223,593 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,459,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corton Capital Inc. increased its stake in Donegal Group by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Corton Capital Inc. now owns 16,101 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108 shares during the last quarter. 27.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Donegal Group Company Profile

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.