The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) to Issue $0.90 Quarterly Dividend

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 24th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.90 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%.

The Hanover Insurance Group has increased its dividend by an average of 6.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 20 consecutive years. The Hanover Insurance Group has a payout ratio of 22.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect The Hanover Insurance Group to earn $15.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.9%.

The Hanover Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of THG opened at $158.88 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The Hanover Insurance Group has a twelve month low of $119.66 and a twelve month high of $166.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $156.09 and a 200-day moving average of $152.32.

The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The insurance provider reported $5.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $1.87. The Hanover Insurance Group had a net margin of 6.83% and a return on equity of 18.01%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Hanover Insurance Group will post 14.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target 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. JMP Securities upped their price objective on The Hanover Insurance Group from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $176.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $161.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Hanover Insurance Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.25.

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.