HNI (NYSE:HNI) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of HNI (NYSE:HNI) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Saturday.

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

HNI Price Performance

HNI stock opened at $52.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.22, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.84. HNI has a 12 month low of $32.70 and a 12 month high of $56.13. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.55.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $623.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $637.74 million. HNI had a net margin of 4.39% and a return on equity of 19.15%. HNI’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that HNI will post 3.17 EPS for the current year.

HNI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd were paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. HNI’s payout ratio is 97.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HNI news, CEO Jeffrey D. Lorenger sold 72,102 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.32, for a total transaction of $3,556,070.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 296,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,642,713.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other HNI news, CEO Jeffrey D. Lorenger sold 72,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.32, for a total transaction of $3,556,070.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 296,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,642,713.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Steven M. Bradford sold 2,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total transaction of $114,311.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 61,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,960,665.26. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,029 shares of company stock worth $6,766,593 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HNI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HNI. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of HNI by 51.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 670 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of HNI by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 27,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,222,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP increased its position in shares of HNI by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HNI by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 7,249 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of HNI by 3.4% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $596,000 after buying an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. 75.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.