Heritage Wealth Advisors Decreases Stock Holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. $THG

Heritage Wealth Advisors lessened its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 53.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors’ holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group were worth $73,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group in the first quarter valued at about $219,000. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in the first quarter worth about $250,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in The Hanover Insurance Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $435,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 10,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,740,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. purchased a new position in The Hanover Insurance Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $202,000. 86.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of THG opened at $180.89 on Wednesday. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.17 and a 12-month high of $186.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 0.44. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $177.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $172.19. 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 (NYSE:THG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $5.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $1.30. The Hanover Insurance Group had a return on equity of 22.43% and a net margin of 9.71%.The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.05 earnings per share. The Hanover Insurance Group’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 14.37 earnings per share for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. The Hanover Insurance Group’s payout ratio is 20.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on THG shares. JMP Securities set a $205.00 price target on The Hanover Insurance Group in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on The Hanover Insurance Group from $198.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Hanover Insurance Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Denise Lowsley sold 1,619 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.47, for a total value of $293,799.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $637,141.17. This represents a 31.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.