Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.17

Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.172 per share by the insurance provider on Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th. This is a positive change from Donegal Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

Donegal Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Donegal Group has a payout ratio of 60.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Donegal Group to earn $0.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 85.0%.

Donegal Group Price Performance

DGICA stock opened at $14.02 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.17. The stock has a market cap of $468.13 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 100.14 and a beta of -0.07. Donegal Group has a 1 year low of $13.10 and a 1 year high of $15.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The insurance provider reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.34). The company had revenue of $239.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $234.10 million. Donegal Group had a return on equity of 0.40% and a net margin of 0.48%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.09 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Donegal Group will post 0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Donegal Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Donegal Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DGICA. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its position in shares of Donegal Group by 58.1% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 1,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 707 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Donegal Group during the third quarter worth $44,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Donegal Group by 15,473.7% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 2,940 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of Donegal Group by 838.1% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,625 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 4,132 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA increased its position in shares of Donegal Group by 55.4% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 4,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 1,621 shares during the period. 27.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Donegal Group Company Profile

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.