The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.90

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 2nd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of 0.90 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, December 27th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from The Hanover Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85.

The Hanover Insurance Group has increased its dividend by an average of 7.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 19 years. The Hanover Insurance Group has a payout ratio of 24.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect The Hanover Insurance Group to earn $13.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.8%.

The Hanover Insurance Group Stock Performance

NYSE THG opened at $163.32 on Wednesday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $119.36 and a fifty-two week high of $166.13. The business has a fifty day moving average of $154.33 and a 200-day moving average of $140.92. The stock has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.71.

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

Insider Activity

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 value of $992,669.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 54,091 shares in the company, valued at $8,782,214.76. This represents a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 30,551 shares of company stock worth $4,781,935. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on THG. Oppenheimer upped 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 research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler increased 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. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded 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 report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $164.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.83.

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.