Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) Stock

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) had its price target lifted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $44.00 to $45.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

HMN has been the subject of several other research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Horace Mann Educators in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Horace Mann Educators from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Horace Mann Educators has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.67.

Horace Mann Educators Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HMN opened at $41.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of 16.62 and a beta of 0.31. Horace Mann Educators has a fifty-two week low of $31.81 and a fifty-two week high of $43.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.33 and a 200-day moving average of $37.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a current ratio of 0.10.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.58. Horace Mann Educators had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 6.44%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Horace Mann Educators will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Horace Mann Educators Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Horace Mann Educators’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 2,817 shares of Horace Mann Educators stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total value of $108,060.12. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $627,262.72. The trade was a 14.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 4,000 shares of Horace Mann Educators stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total value of $167,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 300,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,613,747.74. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,817 shares of company stock valued at $583,020 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Horace Mann Educators by 389.9% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 779 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Horace Mann Educators by 142.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 920 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Horace Mann Educators by 806.3% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Horace Mann Educators by 60.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,671 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Horace Mann Educators during the 4th quarter valued at about $92,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.28% of the company’s stock.

Horace Mann Educators Company Profile

Horace Mann Educators Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an insurance holding company in the United States. The company operates through Property & Casualty, Life & Retirement, and Supplemental & Group Benefits segments. Its Property & Casualty segment offers insurance products, including private passenger auto insurance, residential home insurance, and personal umbrella insurance; and provides auto coverages including liability and collision, and property coverage for homeowners and renters.