Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.17 Per Share

Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 increased 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 Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Donegal Group stock opened at $14.02 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.17. Donegal Group has a 12-month low of $13.10 and a 12-month high of $15.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $468.13 million, a P/E ratio of 100.14 and a beta of -0.07.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DGICA. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Donegal Group by 16.9% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 558,611 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,491,000 after buying an additional 80,800 shares during the period. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Donegal Group by 689.4% during the first quarter. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC now owns 88,832 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,191,000 after purchasing an additional 77,579 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Donegal Group by 7.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 797,297 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,756,000 after purchasing an additional 53,603 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Donegal Group by 92.1% during the second quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 102,443 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,747,000 after purchasing an additional 49,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Donegal Group by 3.2% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,470,212 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $19,832,000 after purchasing an additional 45,771 shares during the last quarter. 27.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.