Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 121,487 Shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. $SIGI

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) by 92.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 253,223 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 121,487 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Selective Insurance Group were worth $19,090,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,059,547 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $339,662,000 after buying an additional 1,462,838 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Selective Insurance Group during the fourth quarter worth $65,625,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Selective Insurance Group by 239.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,036,519 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $86,726,000 after acquiring an additional 730,890 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Selective Insurance Group by 40.0% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 725,980 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $62,906,000 after acquiring an additional 207,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 58.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 552,880 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $44,822,000 after acquiring an additional 204,947 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Selective Insurance Group Stock Down 2.7%

SIGI stock opened at $96.08 on Thursday. Selective Insurance Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.75 and a fifty-two week high of $100.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.14 and a beta of 0.29. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $92.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.70.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($0.12). Selective Insurance Group had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 13.71%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Selective Insurance Group, Inc. will post 7.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SIGI. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Selective Insurance Group from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $84.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Selective Insurance Group from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Selective Insurance Group from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.33.

Selective Insurance Group Profile

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.