American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stake in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 15.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 958,858 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 130,054 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 2.66% of The Hanover Insurance Group worth $148,297,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 11,925 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,766,000 after acquiring an additional 1,408 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 3.4% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 26,204 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,881,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 5.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 369,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $54,733,000 after purchasing an additional 17,856 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 23.7% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 5,617 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 19.5% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 10,839 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,605,000 after buying an additional 1,770 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $176.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $161.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays raised shares of The Hanover Insurance Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.25.

The Hanover Insurance Group Stock Down 0.5 %

THG opened at $170.21 on Monday. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.66 and a 1-year high of $173.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $156.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $6.12 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56 and a beta of 0.65.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The insurance provider reported $5.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $1.87. The Hanover Insurance Group had a return on equity of 18.01% and a net margin of 6.83%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 14.37 EPS for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The Hanover Insurance Group’s payout ratio is currently 30.80%.

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.