CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Upgraded at Zacks Research

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

CNO has been the topic of several other reports. Capital One Financial set a $70.00 target price on CNO Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CNO Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings raised CNO Financial Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut CNO Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on CNO Financial Group from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.00.

CNO Financial Group Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE CNO opened at $55.41 on Tuesday. CNO Financial Group has a one year low of $38.99 and a one year high of $57.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 0.17 and a quick ratio of 0.17. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.04 and a beta of 0.80.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.29. CNO Financial Group had a return on equity of 18.76% and a net margin of 6.02%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $999.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. CNO Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that CNO Financial Group will post 4.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at CNO Financial Group

In related news, insider Karen J. Detoro sold 9,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.98, for a total value of $515,382.52. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 44,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,432,865. This trade represents a 17.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Jeremy D. Williams sold 4,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total value of $244,293.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 62,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,435,749.01. This represents a 6.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 47,995 shares of company stock worth $2,641,336 in the last 90 days. 3.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CNO Financial Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CNO. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in CNO Financial Group in the second quarter worth about $682,433,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CNO Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $124,476,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in CNO Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,034,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in CNO Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,529,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in CNO Financial Group by 926.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 795,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,538,000 after acquiring an additional 717,710 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.43% of the company’s stock.

About CNO Financial Group

CNO Financial Group, Inc is a holding company for a group of insurance and financial services businesses focused on serving middle-income Americans, particularly individuals approaching or in retirement. Through its operating companies, CNO provides products designed to help customers protect income, manage health care expenses and prepare for retirement.

CNO’s principal brands include Bankers Life, Colonial Penn and Washington National. Its offerings include life insurance, annuities, supplemental health insurance, Medicare supplement insurance and other insurance products.