CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Earns Overweight Rating from Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reissued their overweight rating on shares of CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a $46.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $44.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.50.

CNO Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:CNO opened at $40.59 on Monday. CNO Financial Group has a 1-year low of $24.92 and a 1-year high of $41.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.85 and a beta of 1.04.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.25. CNO Financial Group had a net margin of 9.08% and a return on equity of 17.21%. On average, research analysts expect that CNO Financial Group will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. CNO Financial Group’s payout ratio is 17.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CIO Eric R. Johnson sold 3,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total value of $155,500.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 631,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,698,781.96. This represents a 0.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Rocco F. Tarasi III sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.51, for a total value of $168,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 72,896 shares in the company, valued at $2,734,328.96. The trade was a 5.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,962 shares of company stock valued at $380,717. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CNO Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 368.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 95.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 51.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 193.2% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of CNO Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. 95.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.