Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) Declares Dividend Increase - $0.17 Per Share

Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA - Get Free Report) 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. This is an increase 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 raised its dividend annually for the last 20 consecutive years. Donegal Group has a dividend payout ratio of 53.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Donegal Group stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $15.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 115,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 64,237. Donegal Group has a one year low of $12.26 and a one year high of $17.00. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $15.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $530.13 million, a P/E ratio of 20.58 and a beta of -0.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP David Wayne Sponic sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.50, for a total transaction of $186,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,006 shares in the company, valued at $31,093. This trade represents a 85.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP William Daniel Delamater sold 9,616 shares of Donegal Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.77, for a total transaction of $161,260.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,125.83. This trade represents a 87.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 616,809 shares of company stock worth $10,026,700 and have sold 379,564 shares worth $6,212,273. Company insiders own 6.63% of the company's stock.

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.

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.

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