Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the four research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.67.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Horace Mann Educators from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Horace Mann Educators from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Insider Transactions at Horace Mann Educators

In other Horace Mann Educators news, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 5,634 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.08, for a total transaction of $237,078.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,057 shares in the company, valued at $801,918.56. This represents a 22.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total transaction of $157,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 298,324 shares in the company, valued at $11,753,965.60. This represents a 1.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 59,751 shares of company stock valued at $2,272,375. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Horace Mann Educators

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HMN. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 13.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,942,494 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $104,194,000 after buying an additional 359,083 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Horace Mann Educators by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 223,512 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,812,000 after purchasing an additional 21,430 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Horace Mann Educators in the 2nd quarter worth about $636,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 336.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 70,012 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,446,000 after purchasing an additional 53,961 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 558,310 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $19,513,000 after purchasing an additional 6,254 shares during the last quarter. 99.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Horace Mann Educators Stock Performance

Shares of HMN stock opened at $38.10 on Friday. Horace Mann Educators has a 12 month low of $31.81 and a 12 month high of $43.26. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.55. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a PE ratio of 15.18 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The insurance provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $412.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $293.87 million. Horace Mann Educators had a net margin of 6.55% and a return on equity of 8.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Horace Mann Educators will post 2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Horace Mann Educators Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Horace Mann Educators’s dividend payout ratio is 54.18%.

About Horace Mann Educators

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.