Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. $THG

Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,840 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,332,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of THG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,635,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $632,338,000 after acquiring an additional 21,221 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 940,522 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $163,604,000 after acquiring an additional 80,262 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 45.1% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 907,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $157,905,000 after acquiring an additional 282,233 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 464,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $78,932,000 after acquiring an additional 94,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 59.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 457,809 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $79,032,000 after acquiring an additional 170,453 shares during the last quarter. 86.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

THG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $188.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $205.00 price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Hanover Insurance Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.83.

The Hanover Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:THG opened at $171.10 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $176.30 and its 200 day moving average is $170.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $6.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.90 and a beta of 0.44. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.17 and a fifty-two week high of $186.46.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $5.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $1.30. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 22.43%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.05 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 14.37 earnings per share for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. The Hanover Insurance Group’s payout ratio is currently 20.82%.

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.