Bayforest Capital Ltd Purchases 3,526 Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 881.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,526 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd’s holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group were worth $683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in THG. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,613,952 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $558,934,000 after purchasing an additional 23,565 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,489,391 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $230,349,000 after purchasing an additional 4,799 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,217,919 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $188,363,000 after acquiring an additional 270,491 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,087,786 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $168,237,000 after acquiring an additional 43,918 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 860,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $133,048,000 after acquiring an additional 19,956 shares during the period. 86.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Hanover Insurance Group

In other news, EVP Bryan J. Salvatore sold 10,526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.60, for a total transaction of $1,753,631.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 25,864 shares in the company, valued at $4,308,942.40. The trade was a 28.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler upped their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. JMP Securities lifted their price target on The Hanover Insurance Group from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $163.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded The Hanover Insurance Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded The Hanover Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $188.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Hanover Insurance Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.38.

The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group stock opened at $166.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.88 and a beta of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $168.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.86. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.60 and a 1-year high of $178.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. The Hanover Insurance Group had a return on equity of 18.23% and a net margin of 6.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.08 EPS. Analysts predict that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 14.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.98%.

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.