Donegal Group Inc. (DGICA) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 1st

Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.1825 per share by the insurance provider on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This is a 5.8% increase from Donegal Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

Donegal Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.0% per year over the last three years. Donegal Group has a payout ratio of 39.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Donegal Group to earn $1.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.73 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.1%.

Donegal Group Stock Performance

Shares of DGICA opened at $19.43 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $692.47 million, a PE ratio of 12.78 and a beta of -0.05. Donegal Group has a one year low of $12.26 and a one year high of $20.51.

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $245.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.73 million. Donegal Group had a net margin of 5.14% and a return on equity of 9.50%. On average, analysts anticipate that Donegal Group will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Donegal Group from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Mutual Insurance Co Donegal acquired 15,000 shares of Donegal Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.85 per share, for a total transaction of $267,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,219,273 shares in the company, valued at approximately $235,964,023.05. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP William Daniel Delamater sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.77, for a total transaction of $213,240.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,566.15. This trade represents a 88.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 105,908 shares of company stock worth $1,865,086 and sold 47,119 shares worth $845,651. 6.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.