Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 23,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $975,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.05% of HNI at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in HNI during the third quarter worth approximately $56,000. Carlson Capital Management bought a new stake in HNI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $228,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in HNI during the third quarter worth approximately $207,000. OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new position in HNI in the third quarter worth approximately $223,000. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. acquired a new position in HNI in the third quarter worth approximately $238,000. Institutional investors own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at HNI

In other news, EVP Vincent P. Berger sold 9,976 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.01, for a total transaction of $429,067.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,882,745.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other HNI news, EVP Vincent P. Berger sold 9,976 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.01, for a total value of $429,067.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,882,745.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Larry B. Porcellato sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total transaction of $88,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 40,718 shares in the company, valued at $1,791,592. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,374 shares of company stock valued at $749,534. Corporate insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of HNI from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th.

HNI Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:HNI opened at $42.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a PE ratio of 41.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.86. HNI Co. has a 1 year low of $24.81 and a 1 year high of $45.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.18. HNI had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 16.97%. The business had revenue of $679.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $686.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that HNI Co. will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HNI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. HNI’s payout ratio is 125.49%.

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.