Short Interest in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) Rises By 9.9%

HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 779,400 shares, an increase of 9.9% from the June 15th total of 709,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 218,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at HNI

In related news, VP Steven M. Bradford sold 11,237 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.35, for a total value of $543,308.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 61,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,980,390.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other HNI news, CFO Marshall H. Bridges sold 8,551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.50, for a total transaction of $389,070.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,674 shares in the company, valued at $3,488,667. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Steven M. Bradford sold 11,237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.35, for a total transaction of $543,308.95. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 61,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,980,390.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,966 shares of company stock valued at $1,685,119 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HNI

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in HNI during the fourth quarter worth about $13,368,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in HNI by 5.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,566,311 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $251,208,000 after buying an additional 287,735 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in HNI by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,237,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,744,000 after buying an additional 206,419 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in HNI during the first quarter worth about $4,267,000. Finally, Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in HNI during the fourth quarter worth about $3,906,000. Institutional investors own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

HNI Stock Up 0.7 %

HNI stock opened at $49.13 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.55. HNI has a fifty-two week low of $27.71 and a fifty-two week high of $49.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.39, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.19. HNI had a net margin of 2.57% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The firm had revenue of $588.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that HNI will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

HNI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a $0.33 dividend. This is an increase from HNI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. HNI’s payout ratio is currently 97.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Benchmark raised their price target on shares of HNI from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th.

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.