HNI (NYSE:HNI) Lifted to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

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

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

HNI Price Performance

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

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $623.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $637.74 million. HNI had a net margin of 4.39% and a return on equity of 19.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that HNI will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HNI Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 transaction of $3,556,070.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 296,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,642,713.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Miguel M. Calado sold 5,299 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.96, for a total value of $280,635.04. Following the transaction, the director now owns 31,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,650,180.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey D. Lorenger sold 72,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 296,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,642,713.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,029 shares of company stock valued at $6,766,593 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in HNI by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,566,311 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $251,208,000 after purchasing an additional 287,735 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of HNI by 0.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,625,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,180,000 after buying an additional 9,901 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of HNI by 3.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 565,012 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,437,000 after acquiring an additional 17,151 shares during the last quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of HNI by 14.6% in the second quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 291,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,125,000 after acquiring an additional 37,155 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in HNI by 9.0% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 104,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,686,000 after acquiring an additional 8,619 shares during the last quarter. 75.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.