Strs Ohio Makes New Investment in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. $SIGI

Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 19,900 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,822,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,854 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after purchasing an additional 3,377 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,705 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Selective Insurance Group during the 1st quarter valued at $702,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 213,627 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $19,555,000 after acquiring an additional 11,167 shares during the period. Finally, Optimize Financial Inc lifted its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 22.7% during the 1st quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 4,423 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the period. 82.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John J. Marchioni purchased 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $77.89 per share, with a total value of $249,248.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 139,775 shares in the company, valued at $10,887,074.75. This represents a 2.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas A. Mccarthy purchased 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $77.42 per share, for a total transaction of $193,550.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 18,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,451,315.32. This represents a 15.39% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 10,602 shares of company stock valued at $817,440. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SIGI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $92.00 to $84.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $88.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $86.00 to $72.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Selective Insurance Group currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $87.33.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

SIGI opened at $76.91 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $80.43 and a 200 day moving average of $85.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.75 and a fifty-two week high of $103.56.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.55 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a net margin of 7.50% and a return on equity of 12.61%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.10) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Selective Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.