Start new div on <hr/>

Start new div on <hr/>

Problem: I have a piece of HTML-content, with <hr/> as section breaks.
I want to replace the <hr/> with a new <div>.
 
Thus, original: <div>Test test test<hr/>Test test test</div>
Result: <div>Test test test </div<div>Test test test</div>
 
With $('hr').replaceWith('</div><div>') it does not work, because the replacement is not valid HTML.

I want to create columns, with <hr/> the column-divider. Perhaps there is also a better solution. The editor is creating the content and inserting HR's where a new column should start.