Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 10,901 Shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) by 2.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 387,036 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 10,901 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Selective Insurance Group were worth $36,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SIGI. Emerald Advisers LLC bought a new position in Selective Insurance Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $11,767,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 16.4% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 717,946 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $66,984,000 after purchasing an additional 101,045 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 319.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 129,184 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,053,000 after purchasing an additional 98,390 shares during the period. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new stake in Selective Insurance Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $8,656,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 233.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 106,239 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,968,000 after buying an additional 74,390 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Selective Insurance Group

In other Selective Insurance Group news, CAO Anthony D. Harnett sold 1,404 shares of Selective Insurance Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total transaction of $130,024.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,476,759.06. The trade was a 8.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $96.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Selective Insurance Group from $96.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Selective Insurance Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.67.

Selective Insurance Group Stock Up 1.5 %

Selective Insurance Group stock opened at $97.82 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $94.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.78. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $81.00 and a 1-year high of $109.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.29). The business had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 8.11% and a net margin of 5.01%. Selective Insurance Group’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.51 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. This is a boost from Selective Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.97%.

Selective Insurance Group Company Profile

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.