CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com downgraded shares of CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CNO. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of CNO Financial Group from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of CNO Financial Group from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CNO Financial Group currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $25.80.

CNO Financial Group Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of CNO Financial Group stock opened at $26.76 on Thursday. CNO Financial Group has a 12-month low of $19.95 and a 12-month high of $28.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $26.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.00.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.33. CNO Financial Group had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $934.05 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that CNO Financial Group will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.90%.

Insider Transactions at CNO Financial Group

In other news, CEO Gary C. Bhojwani sold 16,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $454,599.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 406,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,816. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other CNO Financial Group news, CEO Gary C. Bhojwani sold 20,200 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.31, for a total value of $551,662.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 293,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,023,732.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary C. Bhojwani sold 16,837 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $454,599.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 406,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,983,816. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 149,812 shares of company stock valued at $4,040,971 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CNO Financial Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in CNO Financial Group by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,806,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $350,739,000 after acquiring an additional 626,454 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in CNO Financial Group by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,422,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $241,203,000 after acquiring an additional 198,429 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in CNO Financial Group by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,618,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,544,000 after acquiring an additional 102,569 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in CNO Financial Group by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,295,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,342,000 after acquiring an additional 95,291 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in CNO Financial Group by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,226,375 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,116,000 after acquiring an additional 76,514 shares during the period. 95.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CNO Financial Group Company Profile

CNO Financial Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, insurance products, and financial services for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face.