Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 3,878 Shares of The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. $HIG

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,878 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in The Hartford Insurance Group were worth $8,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HIG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Hartford Insurance Group by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,160,644 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,714,571,000 after purchasing an additional 156,807 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in The Hartford Insurance Group by 0.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,467,018 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $943,448,000 after buying an additional 57,539 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of The Hartford Insurance Group by 2.9% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,834,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $613,349,000 after buying an additional 136,483 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of The Hartford Insurance Group by 5.3% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,307,617 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $570,328,000 after buying an additional 215,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of The Hartford Insurance Group in the second quarter worth about $506,329,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HIG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on The Hartford Insurance Group from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on The Hartford Insurance Group from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of The Hartford Insurance Group from $138.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of The Hartford Insurance Group from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of The Hartford Insurance Group from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Hartford Insurance Group news, EVP Lori A. Rodden sold 5,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.83, for a total transaction of $805,736.23. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,609,672. This represents a 23.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher Swift sold 201,938 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.41, for a total value of $27,546,362.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 194,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,574,986.97. This represents a 50.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 343,928 shares of company stock valued at $47,393,256 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

The Hartford Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of The Hartford Insurance Group stock opened at $140.69 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $137.11 and a 200 day moving average of $133.47. The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $107.49 and a 52 week high of $144.50. The company has a market cap of $38.81 billion, a PE ratio of 10.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

The Hartford Insurance Group (NYSE:HIG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.84. The Hartford Insurance Group had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 21.92%. The business had revenue of $7.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. will post 11.11 earnings per share for the current year.

The Hartford Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The Hartford Insurance Group’s payout ratio is currently 17.99%.

The Hartford Insurance Group Profile

The Hartford Financial Services Group, commonly known as The Hartford, is a U.S.-based insurance and investment company that provides a broad range of commercial and personal insurance products and employee benefits. Its core businesses include property and casualty insurance for businesses and individuals, group benefits such as group life, disability and dental plans, and retirement and investment solutions offered through affiliated asset-management operations. The company also delivers risk management, claims-handling and loss-prevention services designed to support policyholders across a variety of industries.

Founded in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1810, The Hartford is one of the oldest insurance organizations in the United States and has a long history of underwriting and product development across multiple insurance lines.