Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Grows Position in Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its position in Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,192 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,840 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Horace Mann Educators were worth $439,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Horace Mann Educators in the 4th quarter worth about $1,121,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Horace Mann Educators during the 4th quarter worth approximately $428,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Horace Mann Educators by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,690 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $851,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Horace Mann Educators by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 566,880 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $22,239,000 after purchasing an additional 8,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 389.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 779 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Horace Mann Educators

In related news, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 2,817 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total transaction of $108,060.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $627,262.72. This trade represents a 14.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total value of $157,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 298,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,753,965.60. This represents a 1.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,817 shares of company stock worth $415,140 in the last 90 days. 3.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HMN. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Horace Mann Educators from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Horace Mann Educators in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Horace Mann Educators from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.67.

Horace Mann Educators Stock Performance

Shares of HMN stock opened at $41.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.09. Horace Mann Educators Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.81 and a fifty-two week high of $43.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $39.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.39. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 0.25.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.58. Horace Mann Educators had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 6.44%. Analysts predict that Horace Mann Educators Co. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Horace Mann Educators Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is an increase from Horace Mann Educators’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Horace Mann Educators’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.45%.

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.