Cetera Trust Company N.A Takes $40,000 Position in The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG)

Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in The Hartford Financial Services Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,421,268 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $526,242,000 after buying an additional 91,911 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in The Hartford Financial Services Group by 26.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,142,167 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $364,631,000 after buying an additional 1,083,420 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in The Hartford Financial Services Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,503,815 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $248,646,000 after buying an additional 87,001 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in The Hartford Financial Services Group by 2.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,363,524 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $238,507,000 after buying an additional 88,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in The Hartford Financial Services Group by 0.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,088,713 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $219,021,000 after purchasing an additional 28,092 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at The Hartford Financial Services Group

In related news, SVP Allison G. Niderno sold 1,332 shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.74, for a total value of $119,533.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,536.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Allison G. Niderno sold 1,516 shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.55, for a total transaction of $143,337.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,566.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Allison G. Niderno sold 1,332 shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.74, for a total value of $119,533.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,536.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 201,308 shares of company stock worth $18,356,153 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HIG. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group from $96.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.56.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Price Performance

HIG stock opened at $99.82 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.49, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.89. The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.05 and a twelve month high of $103.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE:HIG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The insurance provider reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.62. The Hartford Financial Services Group had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 10.21%. The business had revenue of $6.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. will post 10.13 EPS for the current year.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The Hartford Financial Services Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.53%.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Company Profile

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and financial services to individual and business customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. Its Commercial Lines segment offers insurance coverages, including workers' compensation, property, automobile, general and professional liability, package business, umbrella, fidelity and surety, marine, livestock, accident, health, and reinsurance through regional offices, branches, sales and policyholder service centers, independent retail agents and brokers, wholesale agents, and reinsurance brokers.