Short Interest in CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) Expands By 9.6%

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,940,000 shares, a growth of 9.6% from the October 15th total of 1,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 702,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jeremy David Williams sold 4,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.09, for a total transaction of $191,750.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 62,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,490,430.89. The trade was a 7.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeanne L. Linnenbringer sold 5,435 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.26, for a total value of $186,203.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,663 shares in the company, valued at $1,290,334.38. This trade represents a 12.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $565,050 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CNO Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 64.1% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in CNO Financial Group by 123.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 935 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in CNO Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in CNO Financial Group by 141.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in CNO Financial Group by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. 95.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CNO Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CNO opened at $38.95 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $35.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.88. CNO Financial Group has a 52-week low of $24.92 and a 52-week high of $40.29. The firm has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.29. CNO Financial Group had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 6.06%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $945.44 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that CNO Financial Group will post 3.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on CNO Financial Group from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on CNO Financial Group from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on CNO Financial Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.50.

CNO Financial Group Company Profile

CNO Financial Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, insurance products, and financial services for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face.