Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,004,806 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,586 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Horace Mann Educators worth $196,339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Horace Mann Educators by 389.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 779 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 72.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,591 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Horace Mann Educators in the 4th quarter worth approximately $92,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Horace Mann Educators by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,378 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new stake in Horace Mann Educators during the 4th quarter valued at $216,000. 99.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Horace Mann Educators from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Horace Mann Educators in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Horace Mann Educators from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Horace Mann Educators currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total transaction of $215,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 320,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,808,233.59. This trade represents a 1.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 2,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.86, for a total value of $120,693.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $584,738.98. This trade represents a 17.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,816 shares of company stock valued at $485,624 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Horace Mann Educators Stock Down 3.7 %

HMN opened at $41.48 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.73 and a beta of 0.21. Horace Mann Educators Co. has a one year low of $31.81 and a one year high of $43.69. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.09.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.58. Horace Mann Educators had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 6.44%. Equities research analysts expect that Horace Mann Educators Co. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Horace Mann Educators Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Horace Mann Educators’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Horace Mann Educators’s payout ratio is currently 56.45%.

Horace Mann Educators Profile

Horace Mann Educators Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an insurance holding company in the United States. The company operates through Property & Casualty, Life & Retirement, and Supplemental & Group Benefits segments. Its Property & Casualty segment offers insurance products, including private passenger auto insurance, residential home insurance, and personal umbrella insurance; and provides auto coverages including liability and collision, and property coverage for homeowners and renters.