Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 521,437 Shares of Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) by 17.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,463,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 521,437 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 8.50% of Horace Mann Educators worth $135,890,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 389.9% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 779 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Horace Mann Educators by 72.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,591 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Horace Mann Educators during the fourth quarter worth about $92,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Horace Mann Educators by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,378 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Horace Mann Educators from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Horace Mann Educators in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.67.

Insider Transactions at Horace Mann Educators

In related news, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 2,817 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total transaction of $108,060.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.37, for a total transaction of $149,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 294,324 shares in the company, valued at $10,998,887.88. This represents a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Horace Mann Educators Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE HMN opened at $43.60 on Thursday. Horace Mann Educators Co. has a 12-month low of $31.81 and a 12-month high of $43.69. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 0.25.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.58. Horace Mann Educators had a net margin of 6.44% and a return on equity of 10.58%. On average, research analysts expect that Horace Mann Educators Co. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Horace Mann Educators Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This is a boost from Horace Mann Educators’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Horace Mann Educators’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.45%.

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.