Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) Increases Dividend to $0.18 Per Share

Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of 0.1825 per share by the insurance provider on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. 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 raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.0% per year over the last three years. Donegal Group has a payout ratio of 43.5% 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 Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of Donegal Group stock traded up $0.72 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $18.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 50,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 77,966. The stock has a market cap of $661.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21 and a beta of -0.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. Donegal Group has a 52 week low of $12.26 and a 52 week high of $20.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.20.

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The insurance provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $249.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.61 million. Donegal Group had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 5.14%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Donegal Group will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Donegal Group from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th.

Insider Transactions at Donegal Group

In related news, major shareholder Mutual Insurance Co Donegal acquired 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.49 per share, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 13,164,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $217,080,494.28. The trade was a 0.09 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Vincent Anthony Viozzi sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.95, for a total transaction of $188,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 9,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $167,222.20. The trade was a 52.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 105,908 shares of company stock valued at $1,865,086 and have sold 47,119 shares valued at $845,651. 6.63% of the stock is owned by 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.