Cincinnati Financial Co. (NASDAQ:CINF) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Cincinnati Financial Co. (NASDAQ:CINF) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,770,000 shares, a decrease of 17.7% from the October 15th total of 2,150,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 504,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Cincinnati Financial by 26.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,782,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $787,076,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218,919 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in Cincinnati Financial by 583.2% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 385,918 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $52,531,000 after acquiring an additional 329,435 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cincinnati Financial by 39.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 981,333 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $115,758,000 after acquiring an additional 277,550 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cincinnati Financial by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,349,462 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $159,360,000 after acquiring an additional 187,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis purchased a new position in shares of Cincinnati Financial during the 1st quarter worth about $22,053,000. Institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Cincinnati Financial from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Cincinnati Financial from $152.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Cincinnati Financial from $149.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Cincinnati Financial from $116.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.57.

Cincinnati Financial Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Cincinnati Financial stock traded up $2.23 during trading on Friday, reaching $151.78. 760,217 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 574,148. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Cincinnati Financial has a 1 year low of $99.61 and a 1 year high of $152.30. The firm has a market cap of $23.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $139.54 and its 200 day moving average is $128.23.

Cincinnati Financial (NASDAQ:CINF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Cincinnati Financial had a net margin of 25.26% and a return on equity of 8.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cincinnati Financial will post 6.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cincinnati Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 19th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Cincinnati Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 16.65%.

About Cincinnati Financial

Cincinnati Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides property casualty insurance products in the United States. It operates through five segments: Commercial Lines Insurance, Personal Lines Insurance, Excess and Surplus Lines Insurance, Life Insurance, and Investments. The Commercial Lines Insurance segment offers coverage for commercial casualty, commercial property, commercial auto, and workers' compensation.