The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE:HIG) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE:HIG – Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on HIG. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on The Hartford Financial Services Group from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on The Hartford Financial Services Group from $83.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Citigroup lifted their target price on The Hartford Financial Services Group from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut The Hartford Financial Services Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $84.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on The Hartford Financial Services Group from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $86.00.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Trading Down 4.2 %

HIG stock opened at $65.72 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $75.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.22. The Hartford Financial Services Group has a fifty-two week low of $60.17 and a fifty-two week high of $79.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE:HIG – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 3rd. The insurance provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.45. The Hartford Financial Services Group had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 8.12%. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that The Hartford Financial Services Group will post 8.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 6th will be given a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The Hartford Financial Services Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.19%.

Insider Transactions at The Hartford Financial Services Group

In other news, EVP Amy Stepnowski sold 336 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.59, for a total value of $26,070.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,255.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other The Hartford Financial Services Group news, EVP Adin M. Tooker sold 3,920 shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $303,447.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,820 shares in the company, valued at $1,998,726.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Stepnowski sold 336 shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.59, for a total value of $26,070.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,844 shares in the company, valued at $298,255.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,167 shares of company stock worth $7,872,898 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HIG. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in The Hartford Financial Services Group by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,773,081 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,878,543,000 after acquiring an additional 5,638,368 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in The Hartford Financial Services Group during the fourth quarter worth about $277,618,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in The Hartford Financial Services Group during the fourth quarter worth about $215,742,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in The Hartford Financial Services Group by 99.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,033,438 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $154,399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP bought a new position in The Hartford Financial Services Group during the fourth quarter worth about $52,786,000. 89.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Company Profile

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The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc is an insurance and financial services company. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Lines, Personal Lines, Property & Casualty Other Operations, Group Benefits, Hartford Funds, and Corporate. The Commercial Lines segment provides workers’ compensation, property, automobile, liability and umbrella coverage under several different products.