Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Takes Position in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 34,114 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,276,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 10.7% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,484,592 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $219,883,000 after purchasing an additional 143,339 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 3,780 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 997,011 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $147,667,000 after purchasing an additional 4,717 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 798,109 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $100,111,000 after purchasing an additional 30,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 16,800 shares in the last quarter. 86.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Hanover Insurance Group news, EVP Jeffrey M. Farber sold 6,114 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.36, for a total transaction of $992,669.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 54,091 shares in the company, valued at $8,782,214.76. This represents a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,100 shares of company stock worth $1,951,223. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

The Hanover Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group stock opened at $156.30 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $157.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.55. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $119.66 and a 52 week high of $166.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.51 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.40. The Hanover Insurance Group had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 5.92%. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 11.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.90 dividend. This is an increase from The Hanover Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. The Hanover Insurance Group’s payout ratio is currently 35.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on THG. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on 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 raised their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $170.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Janney Montgomery Scott cut The Hanover Insurance Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $176.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.88.

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.