California Public Employees Retirement System Buys 27,178 Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG - Free Report) by 34.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 106,278 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 27,178 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.30% of The Hanover Insurance Group worth $12,904,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 6,837 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $759,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 14,450 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,604,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group during the third quarter worth $4,339,000. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 3.0% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 253,367 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $28,119,000 after purchasing an additional 7,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 27.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,747 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $860,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

THG has been the subject of several research reports. TheStreet upgraded The Hanover Insurance Group from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a report on Monday, April 15th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $147.00 price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a report on Monday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $140.83.

The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group stock traded up $1.20 on Wednesday, hitting $131.02. The stock had a trading volume of 213,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 164,114. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $130.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $126.25. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a one year low of $103.82 and a one year high of $138.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.51 and a beta of 0.67.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The insurance provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.62. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.56 billion. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 0.59% and a return on equity of 2.44%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 10.03 EPS for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. The Hanover Insurance Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 361.71%.

Insider Transactions at The Hanover Insurance Group

In other The Hanover Insurance Group news, SVP Warren E. Barnes sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total value of $65,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,677.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.