Benchmark Increases HNI (NYSE:HNI) Price Target to $54.00

HNI (NYSE:HNI) had its price target boosted by Benchmark from $50.00 to $54.00 in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of HNI from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th.

HNI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HNI traded up $0.84 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.19. The company had a trading volume of 214,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 257,406. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.10. HNI has a fifty-two week low of $24.81 and a fifty-two week high of $45.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.19. HNI had a net margin of 2.57% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The business had revenue of $588.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that HNI will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

HNI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. HNI’s payout ratio is presently 94.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HNI

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of HNI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HNI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HNI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of HNI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $134,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of HNI in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $202,000. 75.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.