EP Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in CNO Financial Group, Inc. $CNO

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 12,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $632,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CNO. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 29.5% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 176,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,332,000 after buying an additional 40,054 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 60,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,531,000 after acquiring an additional 797 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 376,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,692,000 after acquiring an additional 20,728 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of CNO Financial Group by 146.4% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 149,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,212,000 after acquiring an additional 88,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of CNO Financial Group by 637.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,438 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,243 shares in the last quarter. 95.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CNO shares. Evercore set a $48.00 target price on CNO Financial Group and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut CNO Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on CNO Financial Group from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised CNO Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of CNO Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Rocco F. Tarasi III sold 5,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $287,500.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 79,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,959,550. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary C. Bhojwani sold 86,048 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.48, for a total value of $4,429,751.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 174,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,971,110.72. This represents a 33.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 95,106 shares of company stock valued at $4,879,343. 3.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CNO Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of CNO opened at $54.24 on Tuesday. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.22 and a fifty-two week high of $57.59. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.09. The stock has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a PE ratio of 18.64 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 0.17.

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

CNO Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.74%.

About CNO Financial Group

CNO Financial Group is an Indiana‐based holding company that offers a range of insurance and retirement solutions through its operating subsidiaries. Its primary business activities include life insurance, annuities, and supplemental health insurance products designed to help individuals plan for retirement and manage health‐related expenses. The company serves middle‐income Americans, with particular emphasis on senior customers seeking guaranteed coverage and reliable income streams.

Originally founded as Conseco in 1979, the company underwent a financial restructuring and rebranded as CNO Financial Group in 2010.