CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Now Covered by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) in a research note published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a market perform rating and a $38.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CNO. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of CNO Financial Group from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on CNO Financial Group from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on CNO Financial Group from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.17.

CNO Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:CNO opened at $38.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.19. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.20 and a 200-day moving average of $35.26. The company has a market capitalization of $4.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 1.04. CNO Financial Group has a 52 week low of $24.92 and a 52 week high of $40.91.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $945.44 million. CNO Financial Group had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 6.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CNO Financial Group will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CNO Financial Group

In other CNO Financial Group news, CMO Rocco F. Tarasi III sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.51, for a total value of $168,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 72,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,734,328.96. This trade represents a 5.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CIO Eric R. Johnson sold 3,978 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total value of $155,500.02. Following the sale, the executive now owns 631,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,698,781.96. This trade represents a 0.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,745 shares of company stock worth $572,467 in the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CNO Financial Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CNO. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of CNO Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $253,000. EMC Capital Management grew its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 283.3% in the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 29,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 21,881 shares during the period. Ibex Wealth Advisors bought a new position in CNO Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $738,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 58.7% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 24,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $915,000 after acquiring an additional 9,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in CNO Financial Group by 49.0% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.43% of the company’s stock.

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.