CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Insider Sells $243,050.64 in Stock

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) insider Jeremy Williams sold 4,362 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.72, for a total value of $243,050.64. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 61,041 shares in the company, valued at $3,401,204.52. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

CNO Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE CNO opened at $55.19 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.74. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.22 and a fifty-two week high of $57.59.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $999.45 million. CNO Financial Group had a return on equity of 18.76% and a net margin of 6.02%.The company’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that CNO Financial Group, Inc. will post 4.74 earnings per share for the current year.

CNO Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. CNO Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 24.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CNO. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CNO Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. 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 note on Friday, July 10th. Capital One Financial set a $70.00 price target on shares of CNO Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CNO Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CNO Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 38.4% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 2.1% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 19,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $797,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in CNO Financial Group by 72.0% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in CNO Financial Group by 75.4% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 19,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $836,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.43% of the company’s stock.

CNO Financial Group Company Profile

CNO Financial Group, Inc is an insurance holding company headquartered in Carmel, Indiana. Through its operating companies, CNO provides insurance and related financial products designed primarily for middle-income Americans, including individuals and families approaching or living in retirement.

CNO’s businesses include Bankers Life, which offers life insurance, annuities and long-term care products through agents; Colonial Penn, which markets life insurance directly to consumers; and Washington National, which provides supplemental health and life insurance products.