HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 595,100 shares, a decline of 5.1% from the March 15th total of 627,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

HNI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HNI opened at $41.09 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. HNI has a 12 month low of $24.81 and a 12 month high of $45.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.28, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.86.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.18. HNI had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 16.97%. The firm had revenue of $679.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $686.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that HNI will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

HNI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. HNI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 125.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HNI news, Director Larry B. Porcellato sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total transaction of $88,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 40,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,791,592. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other HNI news, Director Mary A. Bell sold 2,898 shares of HNI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $124,990.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 76,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,285,772.79. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Larry B. Porcellato sold 2,000 shares of HNI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total transaction of $88,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 40,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,791,592. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,374 shares of company stock valued at $749,534. Insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HNI

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HNI. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HNI by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,420,167 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $209,100,000 after purchasing an additional 836,862 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of HNI by 34.5% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,124,748 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,153,000 after purchasing an additional 545,580 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of HNI in the 4th quarter valued at $10,935,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of HNI by 101.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 511,093 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,530,000 after purchasing an additional 257,833 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in HNI by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,237,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,744,000 after acquiring an additional 206,419 shares during the period. 75.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of HNI from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th.

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.