Empowered Funds LLC Purchases Shares of 2,140 Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI)

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SIGI. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 28.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,468,801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $510,239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,801 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in Selective Insurance Group during the third quarter valued at about $37,726,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 112.7% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 427,180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,667,000 after purchasing an additional 226,387 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Selective Insurance Group during the third quarter valued at about $11,767,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Selective Insurance Group by 16.4% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 717,946 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $66,984,000 after purchasing an additional 101,045 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Selective Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of Selective Insurance Group stock opened at $78.49 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $89.77 and a 200 day moving average of $92.11. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $78.13 and a 12 month high of $109.58. The firm has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.38 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by ($0.37). Selective Insurance Group had a net margin of 4.26% and a return on equity of 7.33%. On average, research analysts expect that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SIGI. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Selective Insurance Group from $95.00 to $87.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective (down previously from $116.00) on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Selective Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Selective Insurance Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.71.

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.