Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) Raises Dividend to $0.17 Per Share

Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 19th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of 0.1725 per share by the insurance provider on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.41%. This is a positive change from Donegal Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

Donegal Group has increased its dividend by an average of 4.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 20 years. Donegal Group has a payout ratio of 53.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Donegal Group to earn $1.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.69 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.5%.

Donegal Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DGICA traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $15.64. 115,382 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 64,237. The stock has a market capitalization of $530.13 million, a P/E ratio of 20.58 and a beta of -0.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.66. Donegal Group has a twelve month low of $12.26 and a twelve month high of $17.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Donegal Group news, Director Sewell Trezevant Moore, Jr. sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.18, for a total transaction of $202,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,655 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,097.90. This trade represents a 32.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Sanjay Pandey sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.50, for a total value of $542,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,871 shares in the company, valued at $106,500.50. The trade was a 83.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders purchased 616,809 shares of company stock worth $10,026,700 and sold 379,564 shares worth $6,212,273. 6.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised Donegal Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

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.