HNI (NYSE:HNI) Stock Price Up 5.4% – Should You Buy?

HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI) shares were up 5.4% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $42.49 and last traded at $42.6240. Approximately 27,342 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 96% from the average session volume of 710,805 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.45.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on HNI. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of HNI in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company set a $65.00 price objective on shares of HNI in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of HNI from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.00.

HNI Stock Up 5.2%

The company has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. HNI had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 0.04%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 124.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that HNI Corporation will post 4 EPS for the current year.

HNI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from HNI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. HNI’s payout ratio is 341.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HNI

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HNI by 167.4% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 42,621 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,792,000 after buying an additional 26,683 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in HNI by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in HNI in the third quarter worth about $28,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in HNI by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 21,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $895,000 after acquiring an additional 5,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in HNI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $676,000. 75.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About HNI

HNI Corporation, founded in 1944 as the Heating & Novelty Company and headquartered in Muscatine, Iowa, is a leading manufacturer of office furniture and hearth products. Over its history, the company has evolved from producing gas heaters into two primary business segments: Office Furniture and Hearth & Home. HNI’s Office Furniture division operates under well-known brands such as The HON Company, Allsteel, Gunlocke and Kimball, offering a comprehensive portfolio of workstations, seating, tables, storage solutions and acoustic products tailored for corporate, education, healthcare and government markets.

In its Hearth & Home segment, HNI designs, manufactures and distributes fireplaces, stoves, fireplace inserts, logs and related accessories.