Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 170,837 Shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG)

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,256,235 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 170,837 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 3.51% of The Hanover Insurance Group worth $152,532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 321.8% during the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 51,519 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,718,000 after acquiring an additional 39,306 shares during the last quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC increased its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 15,440 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,875,000 after purchasing an additional 5,045 shares in the last quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA raised its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 126,866 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,404,000 after buying an additional 14,686 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 28.8% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 29,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,290,000 after buying an additional 6,579 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 547.8% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 13,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,498,000 after buying an additional 11,416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on THG shares. TheStreet upgraded shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of 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. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on The Hanover Insurance Group from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $147.00 price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Hanover Insurance Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $146.00.

Insider Activity

In other The Hanover Insurance Group news, EVP Willard T. Lee sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total transaction of $135,940.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $597,864.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Down 1.0 %

THG opened at $133.90 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.02 and a beta of 0.67. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $103.82 and a 52 week high of $138.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.14.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The insurance provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 7.00%. On average, equities analysts expect that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 10.67 earnings per share for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.23%.

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.