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

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 645 shares during the quarter. 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 quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 64.9% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. 86.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on THG. Piper Sandler upped their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $164.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.29.

The Hanover Insurance Group Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group stock opened at $152.13 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 0.71. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a one year low of $119.36 and a one year high of $166.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $156.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.40.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. On average, analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This is a boost from The Hanover Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Hanover Insurance Group

In related news, EVP Jeffrey M. Farber sold 6,114 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.36, for a total transaction of $992,669.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 54,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,782,214.76. The trade was a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 30,251 shares of company stock valued at $4,736,935. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

The Hanover Insurance Group Company 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.