HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 307 Shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) by 8.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,984 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Selective Insurance Group were worth $376,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in Selective Insurance Group by 2,486.8% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $712,000 after acquiring an additional 7,336 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $132,949,000 after purchasing an additional 62,699 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 170,281 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,887,000 after purchasing an additional 14,004 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 867,691 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $80,956,000 after purchasing an additional 21,374 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 10.2% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 179,741 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $16,770,000 after purchasing an additional 16,689 shares in the last quarter. 82.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $96.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $96.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Selective Insurance Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.14.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

SIGI stock opened at $93.34 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.97. The company has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.16 and a beta of 0.60. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $81.00 and a 52-week high of $109.58.

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). The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a net margin of 5.01% and a return on equity of 8.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. Research analysts expect that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a positive change from Selective Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Selective Insurance Group news, CAO Anthony D. Harnett sold 1,404 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total value of $130,024.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,946 shares in the company, valued at $1,476,759.06. This represents a 8.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.