Short Interest in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) Increases By 27.1%

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 315,500 shares, a growth of 27.1% from the October 31st total of 248,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 189,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

THG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $164.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered The Hanover Insurance Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $176.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.83.

Insider Transactions at The Hanover Insurance Group

In other The Hanover Insurance Group news, EVP Jeffrey M. Farber sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.08, for a total value of $1,860,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 66,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,249,392.28. This represents a 15.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,551 shares of company stock valued at $4,781,935. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in THG. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in The Hanover Insurance Group in the third quarter worth $25,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in The Hanover Insurance Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.61% of the company’s stock.

The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Down 1.5 %

THG stock traded down $2.49 on Monday, reaching $162.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 143,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 175,388. The firm has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of 16.16 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.56. The Hanover Insurance Group has a 12-month low of $119.36 and a 12-month high of $166.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.40.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.40. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 5.92% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Hanover Insurance Group will post 11.43 EPS for the current year.

The Hanover Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This is an increase from The Hanover Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The Hanover Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is 33.73%.

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.