Woodline Partners LP Purchases 216,427 Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. $THG

Key Points

• Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 166.7%, holding 346,275 shares valued at $60.2 million after acquiring an additional 216,427 shares in Q1.
• The Hanover Insurance Group reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $4.35 for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, with a revenue of $1.58 billion, up 3.1% year-over-year.
• Recently, the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, which equates to an annual yield of 2.0% and is set to be paid on September 26th.

Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG - Free Report) by 166.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 346,275 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 216,427 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP owned about 0.96% of The Hanover Insurance Group worth $60,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $64,340,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,137,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 25,505.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 86,801 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $150,990,000 after acquiring an additional 86,462 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

THG has been the topic of several analyst reports. 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. JMP Securities set a $205.00 target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $185.13.

The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:THG traded down $1.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $180.47. 188,938 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 180,064. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 0.46. The business's fifty day moving average price is $170.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.42. 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 twelve month low of $142.48 and a twelve month high of $182.64.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. The Hanover Insurance Group's revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. The Hanover Insurance Group's payout ratio is 23.70%.

The Hanover Insurance Group Company 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.