NFJ Investment Group LLC Decreases Position in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

NFJ Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,734 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 8,786 shares during the quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned 0.14% of The Hanover Insurance Group worth $7,662,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 10.7% during 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 period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 997,011 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $147,667,000 after purchasing an additional 4,717 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 802,033 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $100,607,000 after buying an additional 33,249 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 798,109 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $100,111,000 after buying an additional 30,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 14,711.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 552,450 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $81,823,000 after buying an additional 548,720 shares during the last quarter. 86.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jeffrey M. Farber sold 6,114 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.36, for a total transaction of $992,669.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 54,091 shares in the company, valued at $8,782,214.76. This represents a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,551 shares of company stock valued at $4,781,935. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on THG. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $164.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America increased their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.83.

The Hanover Insurance Group Stock Performance

THG stock opened at $163.32 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $154.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.92. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.36 and a 12-month high of $166.13. The firm has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.71. 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 Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.40. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 5.92% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 11.43 EPS for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This is an increase from The Hanover Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. The Hanover Insurance Group’s payout ratio is presently 33.73%.

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.