HNI (NYSE:HNI) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of HNI (NYSE:HNI) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

Separately, Benchmark upped 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 Stock Performance

Shares of HNI traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $50.15. The company had a trading volume of 164,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 252,819. HNI has a 12 month low of $30.37 and a 12 month high of $56.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a fifty day moving average of $47.31 and a 200-day moving average of $44.81.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $623.70 million for 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that HNI will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HNI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. This is a positive change from HNI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. HNI’s dividend payout ratio is 97.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Marshall H. Bridges sold 4,138 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.50, for a total transaction of $221,383.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 78,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,191,511. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other HNI news, VP Donna D. Meade sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.97, for a total value of $459,700.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 32,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,485,198.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Marshall H. Bridges sold 4,138 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.50, for a total transaction of $221,383.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 78,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,191,511. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 44,284 shares of company stock valued at $2,141,510. 3.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of HNI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in HNI during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of HNI during the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Northwest Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of HNI during the fourth quarter valued at $134,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of HNI during the first quarter valued at $202,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

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.