Insider Selling: CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Insider Sells $510,959.28 in Stock

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) insider Karen Detoro sold 9,336 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.73, for a total transaction of $510,959.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,414 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,318.22. The trade was a 18.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

CNO Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNO traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $55.33. 672,027 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 722,595. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.22 and a twelve month high of $57.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.01 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65.

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

CNO Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend 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 presently 24.74%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNO. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in CNO Financial Group during the second quarter worth about $682,433,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 4,851.5% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,354,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $272,995,000 after buying an additional 5,246,791 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,470,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $101,456,000 after buying an additional 8,053 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of CNO Financial Group by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,870,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,461,000 after buying an additional 317,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of CNO Financial Group by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,492,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,282,000 after buying an additional 114,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised CNO Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of CNO Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $53.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CNO Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Evercore set a $48.00 price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $70.00 target price on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CNO Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

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.