Short Interest in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) Grows By 7.6%

HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 728,200 shares, a growth of 7.6% from the August 31st total of 676,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 261,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

HNI Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE HNI traded down $0.74 on Tuesday, reaching $53.10. The company had a trading volume of 44,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 249,037. The firm has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.85. HNI has a fifty-two week low of $32.70 and a fifty-two week high of $56.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.18. HNI had a net margin of 4.39% and a return on equity of 19.15%. The business had revenue of $623.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $637.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that HNI will post 3.17 EPS for the current year.

HNI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. HNI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 97.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on HNI. Benchmark raised their price objective on HNI from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of HNI from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Miguel M. Calado sold 5,299 shares of HNI stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.96, for a total value of $280,635.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,650,180.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Steven M. Bradford sold 2,380 shares of HNI stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total transaction of $114,311.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 61,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,960,665.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Miguel M. Calado sold 5,299 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.96, for a total transaction of $280,635.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,650,180.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,029 shares of company stock worth $6,766,593. Corporate insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HNI. Norges Bank bought a new position in HNI in the 4th quarter valued at $13,368,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in HNI by 5.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,566,311 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $251,208,000 after purchasing an additional 287,735 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of HNI in the first quarter valued at $4,267,000. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of HNI during the 4th quarter valued at $3,906,000. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in HNI during the first quarter worth about $3,987,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

HNI Company Profile

HNI Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, sale, and marketing of workplace furnishings and residential building products primarily in the United States and Canada. The company operates through two segments, Workplace Furnishings and Residential Building Products. The Workplace Furnishings segment offers a range of commercial and home office furniture, including panel-based and freestanding furniture systems, seating, storage, benching, tables, architectural products, and ancillary and hospitality products, as well as social collaborative items under the HON, Allsteel, Beyond, Gunlocke, HBF, HBF Textiles, HNI India, Kimball, National, Etc., Interwoven, David Edward, Kimball Hospitality, and D'style brands.