Hanover Insurance Group falls after Piper Sandler cuts to 'neutral'

Hanover Insurance group

07/11/2022 15:17

(Updates)
    ** Shares of property and casualty insurer Hanover Insurance
Group  THG.N  fall ~1.9% to $141.54 in early trading 
    ** Piper Sandler downgrades THG to "neutral" from
"overweight"; brokerage's PT of $144 is marginally below the
stock's last closing price 
    ** Says co's near-term prospects are no longer "materially
different" from peers to justify a significant premium 
    ** Adds that it expects FY23 EPS of $8 vs consensus estimate
of $11.27; sees FY24 EPS of $10.20, below consensus view of
$12.91
    ** "Potentially industry-wide higher reinsurance costs in
2023 could also make achieving margin expansion more difficult,"
says Piper Sandler 
    ** Last week, THG reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 99
cents/share, beating Wall Street estimates by a cent, according
to Refinitiv IBES data 
    ** Including session losses, shares up ~8% YTD 
 (Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru)
 ((Manya.Saini@thomsonreuters.com;))