Selective Insurance Analysts Cut Their Forecasts After Downbeat Earnings

Selective Insurance Group, Inc. SIGI posted weak quarterly results, after the closing bell on Thursday.

Selective Insurance reported quarterly losses of $1.10 per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.49 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.196 billion which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.204 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

“This was a challenging quarter. We did not meet our high standard as underwriting performance fell below our target. The unfavorable prior year casualty reserve development was driven by elevated loss emergence in the quarter reflecting higher severity that we attribute to social inflation. Our reserving action is predicated on our in-depth quarterly reserve review and further strengthening to address elevated and uncertain loss trends,” said John J. Marchioni, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Marchioni added, “We have a very stable underwriting portfolio. To address our updated view of loss costs, we are responding with additional price increases. Our renewal pure price increase across all insurance segments was 9.1% in the quarter, including 7.9% for Standard Commercial Lines. General liability renewal pure pricing increased to 7.6%, up over a point from the first quarter. We expect Standard Commercial Lines renewal pure price will trend higher in the second half of 2024.”

Selective shares fell 18.2% to close at $82.08 on Friday.

These analysts made changes to their price targets on Selective following the announcement.

• Piper Sandler analyst Paul Newsome maintained Selective Insurance with a Neutral rating and lowered the price target from $104 to $85.
• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Meyer Shields upgraded Selective Insurance from Market Perform to Outperform, but cut the price target from $104 to $99.

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