Janney Montgomery Scott Downgrades The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) to Neutral

Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $176.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on THG. Bank of America increased their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, The Hanover Insurance Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.83.

The Hanover Insurance Group Stock Performance

NYSE:THG opened at $163.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.89 billion, a PE ratio of 16.23 and a beta of 0.70. The Hanover Insurance Group has a 1 year low of $119.36 and a 1 year high of $165.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.50.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Hanover Insurance Group will post 11.43 EPS for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The Hanover Insurance Group’s payout ratio is currently 33.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Jeffrey M. Farber sold 6,114 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.36, for a total value of $992,669.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 54,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,782,214.76. This represents a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Warren E. Barnes sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.25, for a total value of $69,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $416,547.25. This represents a 14.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,419 shares of company stock valued at $6,054,037 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Hanover Insurance Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in THG. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group during the second quarter worth about $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 64.9% during the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.61% of the company’s stock.

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.