Natixis Advisors LLC Increases Position in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 13.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,925 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,408 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group were worth $1,766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 4,202 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 14,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,176,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 2,227 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $303,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 417 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at The Hanover Insurance Group

In other The Hanover Insurance Group news, EVP Jeffrey M. Farber sold 300 shares of The Hanover Insurance Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $45,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 89,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,459,950. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard W. Lavey sold 8,468 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.01, for a total value of $1,219,476.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,224,826.81. The trade was a 18.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 38,919 shares of company stock worth $5,984,912. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on THG shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. 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 report on Thursday, November 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on 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 boosted their target price 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. Three 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 Hanover Insurance Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.83.

The Hanover Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of THG opened at $161.69 on Tuesday. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.36 and a 12 month high of $165.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $152.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.56. The company has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04 and a beta of 0.70.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 5.92% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 11.43 earnings per share for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.73%.

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.