Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Acquires 101,045 Shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 717,946 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 101,045 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned approximately 1.18% of Selective Insurance Group worth $66,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Selective Insurance Group by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,416,957 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $132,949,000 after buying an additional 62,699 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,574,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $717,735,000 after purchasing an additional 367,987 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 179,741 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $16,770,000 after purchasing an additional 16,689 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in Selective Insurance Group by 32.6% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 35,798 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,908,000 after purchasing an additional 8,807 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 24.8% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 15,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100 shares during the last quarter. 82.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Selective Insurance Group news, CAO Anthony D. Harnett sold 1,404 shares of Selective Insurance Group stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,476,759.06. The trade was a 8.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SIGI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Selective Insurance Group from $96.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised Selective Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $96.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $104.00 to $99.00 in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.67.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

SIGI stock opened at $98.94 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $81.00 and a 1 year high of $109.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $93.64 and a 200 day moving average of $92.87. The company has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.67 and a beta of 0.57.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.29). Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 8.11% and a net margin of 5.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 3.63 EPS for the current year.

Selective Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. This is a positive change from Selective Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.74%.

Selective Insurance Group 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.