Meeder Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Position in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 2,397 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $121,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HNI. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of HNI by 85.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in HNI during the 4th quarter valued at $176,000. Longboard Asset Management LP purchased a new position in HNI during the fourth quarter worth $213,000. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in shares of HNI in the fourth quarter worth $224,000. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of HNI by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,501 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. 75.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian Scott Smith sold 556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.90, for a total transaction of $27,744.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,394 shares in the company, valued at $718,260.60. This represents a 3.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HNI Stock Performance

Shares of HNI opened at $44.75 on Wednesday. HNI Co. has a 1 year low of $40.94 and a 1 year high of $58.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.49, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.90.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $642.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $657.03 million. HNI had a return on equity of 18.27% and a net margin of 5.52%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that HNI Co. will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

HNI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. HNI’s payout ratio is 45.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut HNI from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

HNI Company Profile

HNI Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, sale, and marketing of workplace furnishings and residential building products primarily in the United States and Canada. The company operates through two segments, Workplace Furnishings and Residential Building Products. The Workplace Furnishings segment offers a range of commercial and home office furniture, including panel-based and freestanding furniture systems, seating, storage, benching, tables, architectural products, and ancillary and hospitality products, as well as social collaborative items under the HON, Allsteel, Beyond, Gunlocke, HBF, HBF Textiles, HNI India, Kimball, National, Etc., Interwoven, David Edward, Kimball Hospitality, and D'style brands.