Legal & General Group Plc Grows Holdings in The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. $HIG

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) by 2.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,553,541 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 55,740 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in The Hartford Insurance Group were worth $340,617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $4,714,571,000 after buying an additional 156,807 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Hartford Insurance Group by 0.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 57,539 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of The Hartford Insurance Group by 2.9% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,834,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $613,349,000 after acquiring an additional 136,483 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 215,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of The Hartford Insurance Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $506,329,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Hartford Insurance Group

In other news, CEO Christopher Swift sold 100,970 shares of The Hartford Insurance Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.78, for a total value of $14,214,556.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 194,817 shares in the company, valued at $27,426,337.26. This trade represents a 34.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lori A. Rodden sold 5,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.83, for a total transaction of $805,736.23. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 18,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,609,672. This trade represents a 23.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 343,928 shares of company stock valued at $47,393,256 over the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on HIG shares. Evercore boosted their price objective on The Hartford Insurance Group from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on The Hartford Insurance Group from $160.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on The Hartford Insurance Group from $153.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of The Hartford Insurance Group from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of The Hartford Insurance Group from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.13.

The Hartford Insurance Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HIG opened at $134.97 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $133.86. The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $107.49 and a 1-year high of $144.50. The firm has a market cap of $37.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.60.

The Hartford Insurance Group (NYSE:HIG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.84. The Hartford Insurance Group had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 13.52%.The firm had revenue of $7.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. will post 11.11 earnings per share for the current year.

The Hartford Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. The Hartford Insurance Group’s payout ratio is currently 17.99%.

About The Hartford Insurance Group

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.