Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) Raised to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Donegal Group Stock Performance

Shares of Donegal Group stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $15.21. The company had a trading volume of 30,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 54,972. The firm has a market cap of $507.91 million, a PE ratio of 95.06 and a beta of -0.05. Donegal Group has a one year low of $12.26 and a one year high of $15.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.79.

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The insurance provider reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $246.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.00 million. Donegal Group had a return on equity of 0.89% and a net margin of 0.76%. On average, analysts anticipate that Donegal Group will post 0.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Donegal Group

In related news, VP Vincent Anthony Viozzi sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.24, for a total transaction of $457,200.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,738.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Vincent Anthony Viozzi sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.24, for a total transaction of $457,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,738.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Mutual Insurance Co Donegal bought 9,024 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.96 per share, with a total value of $134,999.04. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 12,104,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $181,077,545.44. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 139,437 shares of company stock worth $2,062,143 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Donegal Group by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,825,664 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,541,000 after purchasing an additional 53,632 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Donegal Group by 34.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,183,005 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $16,728,000 after buying an additional 304,477 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Donegal Group by 4.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 129,551 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,669,000 after buying an additional 5,416 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Donegal Group by 8.2% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 111,216 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,573,000 after buying an additional 8,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Donegal Group by 30.3% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 75,833 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after acquiring an additional 17,614 shares in the last quarter. 27.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.