The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) Stock Position Raised by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group were worth $1,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of THG. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,484,592 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $219,883,000 after buying an additional 143,339 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,239,701 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $183,612,000 after buying an additional 3,780 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 660,272 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $97,816,000 after purchasing an additional 16,800 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 5.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 369,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,733,000 after purchasing an additional 17,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Markel Group Inc. lifted its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 5.8% in the third quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 254,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,620,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the period. 86.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

THG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $176.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered The Hanover Insurance Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $176.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.25.

The Hanover Insurance Group Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:THG opened at $161.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.40. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $119.66 and a 52 week high of $166.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $156.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $152.59. The company has a market capitalization of $5.81 billion, a PE ratio of 13.79 and a beta of 0.72.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The insurance provider reported $5.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $1.87. The Hanover Insurance Group had a return on equity of 18.01% and a net margin of 6.83%. Analysts forecast that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 14.37 earnings per share for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.80%.

The Hanover Insurance Group Company Profile

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides various property and casualty insurance products and services in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Core Commercial, Specialty, Personal Lines, and Other. The Commercial Lines segment offers commercial multiple peril, commercial automobile, workers' compensation, and other commercial lines coverage.