Vestcor Inc Takes $176,000 Position in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI)

Vestcor Inc bought a new position in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,493 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $176,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of HNI. Inspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of HNI by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 35,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,781,000 after acquiring an additional 1,838 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in HNI by 206.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 26,167 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,252,000 after purchasing an additional 17,631 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in HNI by 115.9% during the fourth quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 23,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after buying an additional 12,497 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of HNI during the fourth quarter valued at about $245,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of HNI by 85.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut HNI from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st.

HNI Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of HNI opened at $43.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.04, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.90. HNI Co. has a twelve month low of $40.94 and a twelve month high of $58.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.23.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.13. HNI had a return on equity of 18.27% and a net margin of 5.52%. The company had revenue of $642.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $657.03 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that HNI Co. will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

HNI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. HNI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HNI news, insider Brian Scott Smith sold 556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.90, for a total value of $27,744.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $718,260.60. This represents a 3.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

HNI 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.