Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Decreases Stock Position in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 4.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 14,580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 645 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group were worth $2,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 10.7% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,484,592 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $219,883,000 after purchasing an additional 143,339 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in 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 worth $183,612,000 after buying an additional 3,780 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.5% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 997,011 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $147,667,000 after acquiring an additional 4,717 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 4.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 802,033 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $100,607,000 after acquiring an additional 33,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 4.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 798,109 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $100,111,000 after acquiring an additional 30,536 shares during the last quarter. 86.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on THG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $164.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on The Hanover Insurance Group from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JMP Securities raised their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered The Hanover Insurance Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $176.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.29.

Insider Activity at The Hanover Insurance Group

In other news, EVP Jeffrey M. Farber sold 6,114 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.36, for a total value of $992,669.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 54,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,782,214.76. This represents a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,251 shares of company stock worth $4,736,935. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

The Hanover Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group stock opened at $152.13 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $156.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.55. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.36 and a twelve month high of $166.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 0.71.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. The Hanover Insurance Group had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 5.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 11.41 earnings per share for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is an increase from The Hanover Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.71%.

The Hanover Insurance Group 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.