The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $174.13.

THG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target 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. JMP Securities boosted their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler raised 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Hanover Insurance Group news, EVP Jeffrey M. Farber sold 4,800 shares of The Hanover Insurance Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.41, for a total transaction of $721,968.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 80,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,151,623.90. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 29,051 shares of company stock valued at $4,556,803. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Hanover Insurance Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of THG. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,822 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 2.0% in the third quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 4,202 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $622,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 14,693 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,176,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 35.4% during 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 during the period. Finally, Boston Financial Mangement LLC lifted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 86.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

The Hanover Insurance Group Stock Up 0.5 %

THG stock traded up $0.76 during trading on Friday, hitting $153.20. 159,816 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 155,958. 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 market cap of $5.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20 and a beta of 0.72. The Hanover Insurance Group has a 1 year low of $119.66 and a 1 year high of $166.13. The firm's 50 day moving average is $157.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.96.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.67 billion. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 5.92% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Hanover Insurance Group will post 11.41 EPS for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. This is a positive change from The Hanover Insurance Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. The Hanover Insurance Group's dividend payout ratio is 35.71%.

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.