CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) Short Interest Update

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,100,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the November 30th total of 1,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 656,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on CNO shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of CNO Financial Group from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on CNO Financial Group from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CNO Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.00.

CNO Financial Group Price Performance

CNO stock opened at $37.14 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.98 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. CNO Financial Group has a one year low of $24.92 and a one year high of $40.91.

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

CNO Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. CNO Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CIO Eric R. Johnson sold 3,978 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total transaction of $155,500.02. Following the sale, the executive now owns 631,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,698,781.96. The trade was a 0.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeremy David Williams sold 4,783 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.09, for a total value of $191,750.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 62,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,490,430.89. This trade represents a 7.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,745 shares of company stock worth $572,467 in the last three months. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CNO Financial Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 123.2% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 935 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in CNO Financial Group by 53.0% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of CNO Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.43% of the company’s stock.

About CNO Financial Group

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.