Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Increases Holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. $THG

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,283,395 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,564 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group were worth $223,248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,635,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $632,338,000 after acquiring an additional 21,221 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 45.1% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 907,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $157,905,000 after acquiring an additional 282,233 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 389,634 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $67,777,000 after acquiring an additional 21,588 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 40.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 383,670 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $59,338,000 after acquiring an additional 110,944 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group during the 1st quarter worth $64,340,000. 86.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on THG. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on The Hanover Insurance Group from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded The Hanover Insurance Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. JMP Securities set a $205.00 price target on The Hanover Insurance Group in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded The Hanover Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $188.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.13.

The Hanover Insurance Group Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE THG opened at $175.4140 on Friday. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.49 and a 52 week high of $178.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $167.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 0.45.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.07 by $1.28. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.60 billion. The Hanover Insurance Group had a return on equity of 20.24% and a net margin of 8.67%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 14.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.70%.

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.