Royce & Associates LP Makes New Investment in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI)

Royce & Associates LP bought a new position in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $395,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in HNI. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HNI in the 4th quarter worth $69,253,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of HNI by 275.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,836,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $98,861,000 after buying an additional 1,346,999 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of HNI by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 628,272 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,646,000 after buying an additional 105,034 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of HNI by 216.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 93,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,015,000 after buying an additional 63,724 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of HNI by 54.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 136,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,372,000 after buying an additional 48,237 shares during the period. 75.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at HNI

In other news, insider Brian Scott Smith sold 556 shares of HNI stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.90, for a total transaction of $27,744.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $718,260.60. The trade was a 3.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered HNI from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

HNI Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of HNI opened at $43.29 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $47.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a PE ratio of 14.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.90. HNI Co. has a 12 month low of $40.94 and a 12 month high of $58.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $642.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $657.03 million. HNI had a return on equity of 18.27% and a net margin of 5.52%. Equities analysts forecast that HNI Co. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HNI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. HNI’s payout ratio is 45.67%.

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.