Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Cuts Holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lowered its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 0.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 144,321 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 768 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group were worth $19,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. BOKF NA increased its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,351 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $583,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 230.7% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 6,733 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $916,000 after acquiring an additional 4,697 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $365,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,136 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 2,227 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at The Hanover Insurance Group

In other news, Director Jane D. Carlin sold 1,119 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.25, for a total transaction of $147,987.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Willard T. Lee sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total transaction of $135,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $597,864.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jane D. Carlin sold 1,119 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.25, for a total value of $147,987.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on THG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $147.00 target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Hanover Insurance Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $146.00.

The Hanover Insurance Group Stock Performance

The Hanover Insurance Group stock traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $134.96. 59,537 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 172,643. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $103.82 and a twelve month high of $138.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $130.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24 and a beta of 0.68.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The insurance provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.47. The Hanover Insurance Group had a return on equity of 7.00% and a net margin of 2.67%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. Equities analysts predict that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 10.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 13th. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.23%.

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.