HNI (NYSE:HNI) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

HNI (NYSE:HNI) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Benchmark upped their target price on HNI from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th.

HNI Stock Performance

HNI opened at $53.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.20. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 39.46, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.85. HNI has a 52-week low of $32.70 and a 52-week high of $56.13.

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

Insider Transactions at HNI

In related news, Director Larry B. Porcellato sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.01, for a total transaction of $96,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,907,197.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Larry B. Porcellato sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.01, for a total value of $96,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,907,197.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Steven M. Bradford sold 11,237 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.35, for a total transaction of $543,308.95. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 61,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,980,390.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,029 shares of company stock valued at $6,766,593 over the last ninety days. 3.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of HNI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HNI. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in HNI by 184.7% in the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 102,330 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,618,000 after buying an additional 66,387 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of HNI by 1.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 40,765 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of HNI by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 47,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,163,000 after purchasing an additional 11,168 shares during the last quarter. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC increased its stake in HNI by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC now owns 51,867 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,170,000 after acquiring an additional 19,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in HNI by 86.6% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 35,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 16,646 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

About HNI

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.