Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) Stock Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $80.78 and traded as high as $83.09. Selective Insurance Group shares last traded at $82.97, with a volume of 480,759 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Selective Insurance Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $81.60.

Selective Insurance Group Trading Up 0.9%

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $81.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.78. The company has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.04. Selective Insurance Group had a net margin of 7.78% and a return on equity of 12.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. Selective Insurance Group’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Selective Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change from Selective Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Selective Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SIGI. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Selective Insurance Group by 62.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,596,709 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,048,000 after buying an additional 1,003,064 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,270,387 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $102,982,000 after acquiring an additional 17,511 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,150,662 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $99,705,000 after acquiring an additional 22,410 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 6.0% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,109,922 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $96,175,000 after acquiring an additional 63,255 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 0.6% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 897,554 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $77,773,000 after acquiring an additional 5,683 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

About Selective Insurance Group

Selective Insurance Group, Inc is an insurance holding company headquartered in Branchville, New Jersey. The organization traces its roots to a regional provider of property and casualty coverage and became a publicly traded holding company following its initial public offering in 1999. Since its formation, Selective has expanded through strategic acquisitions and organic growth initiatives to broaden its product offerings and strengthen its market position.

The company’s core business encompasses a broad range of property and casualty insurance products designed to serve both commercial and personal lines customers.