Xponance Inc. Purchases 238 Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group were worth $636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in THG. Barclays PLC grew its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 61.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 27,155 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,022,000 after purchasing an additional 10,341 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 104.4% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,967 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,772,000 after acquiring an additional 6,112 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 82.4% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 11,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,702,000 after acquiring an additional 5,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. raised its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 46,091 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,128,000 after acquiring an additional 13,750 shares in the last quarter. 86.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

The Hanover Insurance Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE THG opened at $172.81 on Wednesday. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a one year low of $119.66 and a one year high of $174.00. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.78 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $162.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.67.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The insurance provider reported $5.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $1.87. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 6.83% and a return on equity of 18.01%. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 14.37 EPS for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The Hanover Insurance Group’s payout ratio is 30.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on The Hanover Insurance Group from $161.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $176.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays raised The Hanover Insurance Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.25.

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.