Alliancebernstein L.P. Purchases 19,956 Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 860,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,956 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 2.39% of The Hanover Insurance Group worth $133,048,000 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. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 1,078 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 170,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,270,000 after acquiring an additional 17,583 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 104.4% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,967 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,772,000 after acquiring an additional 6,112 shares during the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 11.0% in the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 1,802 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 4.7% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. 86.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John C. Roche sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.01, for a total transaction of $35,002.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,749,892.78. This represents a 0.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on THG. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $161.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $176.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays raised The Hanover Insurance Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, The Hanover Insurance Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $179.00.

The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Up 0.8 %

THG opened at $175.27 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.99 and a beta of 0.65. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.66 and a 12 month high of $176.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $164.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $157.66.

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

The Hanover Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. The Hanover Insurance Group’s payout ratio is presently 30.80%.

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.