Axa S.A. Buys New Position in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI)

Axa S.A. purchased a new position in shares of HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,392 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $423,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of HNI. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in HNI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $13,368,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of HNI by 5.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,566,311 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $251,208,000 after buying an additional 287,735 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of HNI during the first quarter worth $4,267,000. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HNI during the fourth quarter valued at $3,906,000. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of HNI in the 1st quarter valued at $3,987,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on HNI shares. StockNews.com downgraded HNI from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of HNI from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th.

HNI Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE HNI opened at $53.40 on Wednesday. HNI Co. has a 1 year low of $32.70 and a 1 year high of $56.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 39.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $52.03 and a 200 day moving average of $47.24.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $623.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $637.74 million. HNI had a return on equity of 19.15% and a net margin of 4.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. Research analysts forecast that HNI Co. will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current year.

HNI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. HNI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 97.78%.

Insider Activity at HNI

In other HNI news, CFO Marshall H. Bridges sold 4,138 shares of HNI stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.50, for a total value of $221,383.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 78,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,191,511. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Jeffrey D. Lorenger sold 72,102 shares of HNI stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.32, for a total value of $3,556,070.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 296,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,642,713.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Marshall H. Bridges sold 4,138 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.50, for a total transaction of $221,383.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 78,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,191,511. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,029 shares of company stock worth $6,766,593 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

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.