Covestor Ltd Acquires 508 Shares of HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI)

Covestor Ltd raised its position in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) by 219.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 739 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the quarter. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in HNI were worth $40,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Global Investments increased its position in shares of HNI by 2.1% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 25,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of HNI by 1.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 238,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,839,000 after acquiring an additional 4,358 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of HNI by 4,746.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,181 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 2,136 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of HNI by 60.0% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $750,000 after buying an additional 5,226 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of HNI during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HNI. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of HNI from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of HNI from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HNI news, insider Brian Scott Smith sold 2,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total value of $123,336.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $642,708. This represents a 16.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary A. Bell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.85, for a total transaction of $259,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 74,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,857,691.85. This trade represents a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,480 shares of company stock worth $2,041,210. 3.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HNI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HNI opened at $54.88 on Friday. HNI Co. has a 1 year low of $38.55 and a 1 year high of $57.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The company’s 50-day moving average is $52.77 and its 200 day moving average is $49.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.85.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $672.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $712.75 million. HNI had a net margin of 4.83% and a return on equity of 19.29%. The business’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that HNI Co. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

HNI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. HNI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.16%.

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.