Attention dividend hunters! The Hanover Insurance Group Inc (NYSE:THG) will be distributing its dividend of $0.54 per share on the 29 June 2018, and will start trading ex-dividend in 2 days time on the 07 June 2018. What does this mean for current shareholders and potential investors? Below, I will explain how holding Hanover Insurance Group can impact your portfolio income stream, by analysing the stock’s most recent financial data and dividend attributes. Check out our latest analysis for Hanover Insurance Group

5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock

When researching a dividend stock, I always follow the following screening criteria:

• Is their annual yield among the top 25% of dividend payers?

• Has its dividend been stable over the past (i.e. no missed payments or significant payout cuts)?

• Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past?

• Is it able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?

• Will it be able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future?

Does Hanover Insurance Group pass our checks?

The company currently pays out 39.18% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Furthermore, analysts have not forecasted a dividends per share for the future, which makes it hard to determine the yield shareholders should expect, and whether the current payout is sustainable, moving forward. Reliablity is an important factor for dividend stocks, particularly for income investors who want a strong track record of payment and a positive outlook for future payout. In the case of THG it has increased its DPS from $0.4 to $2.16 in the past 10 years. During this period it has not missed a payment, as one would expect for a company increasing its dividend. These are all positive signs of a great, reliable dividend stock. Compared to its peers, Hanover Insurance Group has a yield of 1.76%, which is on the low-side for Insurance stocks.

Next Steps:

Considering the dividend attributes we analyzed above, Hanover Insurance Group is definitely worth keeping an eye on for someone looking to build a dedicated income portfolio. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I recommend taking sufficient time to understand its core business and determine whether the company and its investment properties suit your overall goals. I’ve put together three pertinent factors you should further research:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for THG’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for THG’s outlook.

2. Valuation: What is THG worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it’s not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether THG is currently mispriced by the market.

3. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.