HNI (NYSE:HNI) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of HNI (NYSE:HNI) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday morning.

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

HNI Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of HNI stock opened at $54.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $52.04 and its 200 day moving average is $47.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 40.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.84. HNI has a 1 year low of $32.70 and a 1 year high of $56.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $637.74 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that HNI will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HNI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. HNI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 97.78%.

Insider Transactions at HNI

In related news, VP Steven M. Bradford sold 5,976 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.15, for a total value of $317,624.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 61,642 shares in the company, valued at $3,276,272.30. 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 hyperlink. In other HNI news, Director Miguel M. Calado sold 5,299 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 31,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,650,180.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Steven M. Bradford sold 5,976 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.15, for a total transaction of $317,624.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 61,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,276,272.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 118,412 shares of company stock worth $6,012,952. Company insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HNI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HNI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in HNI by 5.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,566,311 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $251,208,000 after buying an additional 287,735 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in HNI by 0.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,625,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,180,000 after acquiring an additional 9,901 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in HNI by 3.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 565,012 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,437,000 after purchasing an additional 17,151 shares during the period. Clifford Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in HNI by 14.6% in the second quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 291,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,125,000 after purchasing an additional 37,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of HNI by 9.0% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 104,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,686,000 after purchasing an additional 8,619 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

HNI Company Profile

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.