CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,210,000 shares, a decrease of 16.6% from the August 15th total of 2,650,000 shares. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 755,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeanne L. Linnenbringer sold 5,435 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.26, for a total value of $186,203.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,334.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other CNO Financial Group news, insider Jeanne L. Linnenbringer sold 5,435 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.26, for a total transaction of $186,203.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,334.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeanne L. Linnenbringer sold 5,364 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total transaction of $187,096.32. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 44,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,565,553.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CNO Financial Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNO. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 64.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in CNO Financial Group by 123.2% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 935 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of CNO Financial Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $52,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in CNO Financial Group by 25.4% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in CNO Financial Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on CNO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of CNO Financial Group from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on CNO Financial Group from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CNO Financial Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.75.

CNO Financial Group Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:CNO traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $34.79. 646,207 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 747,153. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $32.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.19 and a quick ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.12 and a beta of 1.01. CNO Financial Group has a 1 year low of $22.27 and a 1 year high of $35.45.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.33. CNO Financial Group had a return on equity of 18.30% and a net margin of 9.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $929.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that CNO Financial Group will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current year.

CNO Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.66%.

About CNO Financial Group

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.