The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) Receives $179.50 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the nine analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $179.50.

A number of research firms have commented on THG. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st.

The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of THG stock opened at $163.67 on Thursday. The Hanover Insurance Group has a 1 year low of $119.66 and a 1 year high of $176.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $165.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $160.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.00 and a beta of 0.44.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.29. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 6.83% and a return on equity of 18.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Hanover Insurance Group will post 14.37 earnings per share for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Hanover Insurance Group

In other news, CEO John C. Roche sold 301 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $52,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,772,450. This represents a 0.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan J. Salvatore sold 10,526 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.60, for a total value of $1,753,631.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,942.40. This represents a 28.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,027 shares of company stock worth $1,841,309. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $67,928,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in the 1st quarter worth about $64,340,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 907,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $157,905,000 after acquiring an additional 282,233 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,217,919 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $188,363,000 after acquiring an additional 270,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in the 4th quarter worth about $21,797,000. 86.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.