HNI (NYSE:HNI) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of HNI (NYSE:HNI) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Sunday morning.

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

HNI Stock Performance

Shares of HNI opened at $54.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. HNI has a 52-week low of $32.70 and a 52-week high of $56.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $52.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.90. The company has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.84.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.18. HNI had a net margin of 4.39% and a return on equity of 19.15%. The firm had revenue of $623.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $637.74 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. HNI’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that HNI will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HNI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. HNI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 97.78%.

Insider Activity

In other HNI news, CFO Marshall H. Bridges sold 4,138 shares of HNI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.50, for a total value of $221,383.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 78,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,191,511. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Miguel M. Calado sold 5,299 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.96, for a total transaction of $280,635.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,650,180.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Marshall H. Bridges sold 4,138 shares of HNI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.50, for a total value of $221,383.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 78,346 shares in the company, valued at $4,191,511. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 118,412 shares of company stock valued at $6,012,952. Insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HNI

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HNI. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of HNI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $245,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in HNI by 86.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of HNI by 11.7% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 89,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after buying an additional 9,329 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HNI in the first quarter valued at $202,000. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in shares of HNI by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 40,765 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. 75.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.