Bank of Nova Scotia Decreases Stock Position in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG – Get Rating) by 36.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,125 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,415 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group were worth $557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,095 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $148,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 2,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,590 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems increased its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 6,465 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $828,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FourThought Financial LLC raised its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. FourThought Financial LLC now owns 1,338 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 86.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at The Hanover Insurance Group

In other The Hanover Insurance Group news, SVP Warren E. Barnes sold 862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.51, for a total value of $119,395.62. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,075 shares in the company, valued at $564,428.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on THG. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on The Hanover Insurance Group from $153.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 4th. StockNews.com began coverage on The Hanover Insurance Group in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America cut The Hanover Insurance Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $142.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.71.

The Hanover Insurance Group Stock Performance

Shares of THG opened at $117.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a PE ratio of -3,905.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $123.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.10. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.26 and a 52-week high of $149.64.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The insurance provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.06. The Hanover Insurance Group had a negative net margin of 0.01% and a positive return on equity of 3.62%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -10,796.40%.

The Hanover Insurance Group Profile

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The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc is a holding company that engages in the provision of property and casualty products and services. It operates through the following segments: Core Commercial, Specialty, Personal Lines and Other. The Core Commercial segment includes commercial multiple peril, commercial automobile, workers compensation and other core commercial coverage, such as general liability, commercial umbrella and monoline property.