Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 824,100 shares, an increase of 8.1% from the October 31st total of 762,100 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 273,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Horace Mann Educators in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Horace Mann Educators from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Horace Mann Educators from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $39.00 to $44.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Horace Mann Educators has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.67.

Insider Activity at Horace Mann Educators

In other news, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 5,634 shares of Horace Mann Educators stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.08, for a total value of $237,078.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,057 shares in the company, valued at $801,918.56. The trade was a 22.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 42,117 shares of Horace Mann Educators stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total transaction of $1,560,856.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 294,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,910,538.12. This represents a 12.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,751 shares of company stock valued at $2,114,775 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 1,798.0% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 949 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 899 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Horace Mann Educators by 142.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 920 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Horace Mann Educators in the second quarter worth about $35,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Horace Mann Educators by 60.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,671 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Horace Mann Educators in the second quarter worth about $59,000. Institutional investors own 99.28% of the company’s stock.

Horace Mann Educators Price Performance

HMN traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $40.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 41,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 240,530. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $38.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.45. Horace Mann Educators has a 12 month low of $31.81 and a 12 month high of $43.26. The stock has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The insurance provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.04. Horace Mann Educators had a net margin of 6.55% and a return on equity of 8.14%. The business had revenue of $412.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $293.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Horace Mann Educators will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Horace Mann Educators Company Profile

Horace Mann Educators Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an insurance holding company in the United States. The company operates through Property & Casualty, Life & Retirement, and Supplemental & Group Benefits segments. Its Property & Casualty segment offers insurance products, including private passenger auto insurance, residential home insurance, and personal umbrella insurance; and provides auto coverages including liability and collision, and property coverage for homeowners and renters.