CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.00.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on CNO Financial Group from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on CNO Financial Group from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of CNO Financial Group from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at CNO Financial Group

In other news, CMO Rocco F. Tarasi III sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.51, for a total transaction of $168,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 72,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,734,328.96. This represents a 5.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeremy David Williams sold 4,783 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.09, for a total transaction of $191,750.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 62,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,490,430.89. This represents a 7.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,745 shares of company stock worth $572,467 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CNO Financial Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 19.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,117,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,695,000 after acquiring an additional 343,819 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,899,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,676,000 after purchasing an additional 107,589 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in CNO Financial Group by 300.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,199,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,086,000 after purchasing an additional 899,990 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in CNO Financial Group by 28.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,040,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,526,000 after buying an additional 232,631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 455.1% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 777,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,546,000 after buying an additional 637,254 shares in the last quarter. 95.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CNO Financial Group Stock Performance

CNO Financial Group stock opened at $37.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.19. CNO Financial Group has a one year low of $24.92 and a one year high of $40.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $38.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.14 and a beta of 1.02.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.29. CNO Financial Group had a net margin of 6.06% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $945.44 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CNO Financial Group will post 3.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.81%.

CNO Financial Group Company Profile

CNO Financial Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, insurance products, and financial services for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face.