CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.50.

CNO has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of CNO Financial Group from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of CNO Financial Group from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on CNO Financial Group from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on CNO Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $46.00 target price (up previously from $44.00) on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research note on Monday, February 10th.

CNO Financial Group Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of CNO Financial Group stock opened at $42.23 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.29 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.22. CNO Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $24.92 and a fifty-two week high of $42.41.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.25. CNO Financial Group had a return on equity of 17.20% and a net margin of 9.08%. As a group, equities analysts predict that CNO Financial Group will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. CNO Financial Group’s payout ratio is 17.11%.

Insider Activity at CNO Financial Group

In other CNO Financial Group news, General Counsel Matthew J. Zimpfer sold 40,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.10, for a total transaction of $1,636,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 204,143 shares in the company, valued at $8,186,134.30. This represents a 16.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Scott L. Goldberg sold 25,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.11, for a total value of $1,022,805.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 169,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,792,307.62. This represents a 13.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 132,600 shares of company stock worth $5,372,187. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CNO Financial Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in CNO Financial Group by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in CNO Financial Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 22,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC lifted its stake in CNO Financial Group by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 6,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in CNO Financial Group by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.43% of the company’s stock.

About CNO Financial Group

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.