Cooke & Bieler LP Buys 140,971 Shares of HNI Corporation $HNI

Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI) by 23.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 754,493 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 140,971 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in HNI were worth $31,719,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HNI. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of HNI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of HNI by 59.9% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of HNI by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 7,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $352,000 after purchasing an additional 1,380 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of HNI by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of HNI by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $600,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. 75.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

HNI Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of HNI opened at $30.71 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $34.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.90, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.01. HNI Corporation has a 52 week low of $28.93 and a 52 week high of $53.29.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $0.34 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. HNI had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 0.04%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 124.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. On average, analysts predict that HNI Corporation will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

HNI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This is an increase from HNI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. HNI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 331.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HNI. Benchmark lowered their price objective on HNI from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered HNI from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered HNI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.00.

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.