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 Thursday.

Separately, Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of HNI from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

HNI Stock Performance

Shares of HNI stock opened at $49.72 on Thursday. HNI has a 12 month low of $36.72 and a 12 month high of $56.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a PE ratio of 19.27, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.69.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.05. HNI had a return on equity of 19.29% and a net margin of 4.83%. The company had revenue of $672.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $712.75 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. HNI’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that HNI will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

HNI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. HNI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.16%.

Insider Activity at HNI

In other news, CEO Jeffrey D. Lorenger sold 72,102 shares of HNI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.32, for a total value of $3,556,070.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 296,892 shares in the company, valued at $14,642,713.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Brian Scott Smith sold 2,284 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $123,336.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,708. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey D. Lorenger sold 72,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.32, for a total value of $3,556,070.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 296,892 shares in the company, valued at $14,642,713.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,582 shares of company stock valued at $5,597,281. 3.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HNI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in 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 acquiring an additional 287,735 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in HNI during the first quarter worth about $4,267,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in HNI during the first quarter worth about $3,987,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in HNI by 184.7% during the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 102,330 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,618,000 after buying an additional 66,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in HNI in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,623,000. 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.