Horizon Investment Services LLC Invests $205,000 in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. $THG

Horizon Investment Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,205 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in THG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,635,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $632,338,000 after acquiring an additional 21,221 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 940,522 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $163,604,000 after purchasing an additional 80,262 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 282,233 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 25.6% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 464,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $78,932,000 after buying an additional 94,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 59.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 457,809 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $79,032,000 after buying an additional 170,453 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on THG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $198.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on The Hanover Insurance Group from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. JMP Securities set a $205.00 target price on The Hanover Insurance Group in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Hanover Insurance Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.83.

The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Up 0.3%

THG stock opened at $176.57 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $171.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $145.17 and a twelve month high of $186.46.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $5.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $1.30. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 22.43%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. The Hanover Insurance Group’s payout ratio is 20.82%.

About The Hanover Insurance Group

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.