Gotham Asset Management LLC Acquires 15,311 Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. $THG

Key Points

• Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 22.6% in Q1, holding approximately 82,958 shares valued at $14.43 million.
• Analysts have set a new average price target of $185.13 for The Hanover Insurance Group, with ratings indicating a moderate buy outlook among analysts.
• The company reported earnings of $4.35 EPS for the quarter, surpassing expectations and showing a quarterly revenue increase of 3.1% year-over-year.

Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG - Free Report) by 22.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,958 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,311 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC owned 0.23% of The Hanover Insurance Group worth $14,431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of THG. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in The Hanover Insurance Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $64,340,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 45.1% in the first 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 59.3% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 1,575.5% in the fourth quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 129,848 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $20,082,000 after acquiring an additional 122,098 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in The Hanover Insurance Group in the fourth quarter worth $15,137,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. JMP Securities set a $205.00 price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $188.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Hanover Insurance Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $185.13.

The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Down 0.3%

THG traded down $0.48 on Friday, hitting $180.72. 40,995 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 243,351. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.24. 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 Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.48 and a 12 month high of $182.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.46 billion, a PE ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 0.46.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.07 by $1.28. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 14.37 earnings per share for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. The Hanover Insurance Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.70%.

The Hanover Insurance Group 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.