Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the four brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.67.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Horace Mann Educators from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $39.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Horace Mann Educators from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Horace Mann Educators Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:HMN opened at $38.69 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Horace Mann Educators has a twelve month low of $31.81 and a twelve month high of $43.26. The company has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a PE ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 0.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.40.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The insurance provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.04. Horace Mann Educators had a return on equity of 8.14% and a net margin of 6.55%. The firm had revenue of $412.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $293.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Horace Mann Educators will post 2.58 EPS for the current year.

Horace Mann Educators Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Horace Mann Educators’s payout ratio is 54.18%.

Insider Activity at Horace Mann Educators

In other news, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.24, for a total value of $148,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,336 shares in the company, valued at $10,886,592.64. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 5,634 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.08, for a total value of $237,078.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,057 shares in the company, valued at $801,918.56. This trade represents a 22.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,751 shares of company stock worth $2,114,775 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Horace Mann Educators

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Horace Mann Educators during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $59,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Horace Mann Educators by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 22,333 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Horace Mann Educators by 67.5% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 25,571 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 10,302 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Horace Mann Educators by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,919 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 32.8% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 47,462 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,548,000 after buying an additional 11,722 shares in the last quarter. 99.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Horace Mann Educators

Horace Mann Educators Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an insurance holding company in the United States. The company operates through Property & Casualty, Life & Retirement, and Supplemental & Group Benefits segments. Its Property & Casualty segment offers insurance products, including private passenger auto insurance, residential home insurance, and personal umbrella insurance; and provides auto coverages including liability and collision, and property coverage for homeowners and renters.