The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) Shares Bought by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,315 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group were worth $203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.3% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 660,272 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $97,816,000 after buying an additional 16,800 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 369,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,733,000 after buying an additional 17,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Markel Group Inc. raised its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 254,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,620,000 after acquiring an additional 14,000 shares in the last quarter. 86.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on THG shares. Barclays raised The Hanover Insurance Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on The Hanover Insurance Group from $161.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott cut The Hanover Insurance Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $176.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.25.

The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group stock opened at $158.88 on Tuesday. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.66 and a 1 year high of $166.98. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $156.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.32. The company has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59 and a beta of 0.72.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The insurance provider reported $5.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $1.87. The Hanover Insurance Group had a return on equity of 18.01% and a net margin of 6.83%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 14.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.80%.

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.