HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) saw a large drop in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 863,600 shares, a drop of 6.5% from the November 15th total of 923,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 280,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded HNI from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HNI news, insider Brian Scott Smith sold 2,284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $123,336.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $642,708. This trade represents a 16.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Larry B. Porcellato sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total value of $113,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 37,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,157,266. This trade represents a 5.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HNI

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in HNI by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,542 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $101,033,000 after acquiring an additional 20,717 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in HNI by 275.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,836,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $98,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,346,999 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in HNI by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,625,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,180,000 after acquiring an additional 9,901 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in HNI by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,084,830 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $58,419,000 after acquiring an additional 7,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in HNI by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 565,012 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,437,000 after acquiring an additional 17,151 shares during the last quarter. 75.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HNI Stock Performance

Shares of HNI stock traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $54.13. 351,337 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 257,279. HNI has a 12-month low of $39.95 and a 12-month high of $58.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. HNI had a return on equity of 19.29% and a net margin of 4.83%. The firm had revenue of $672.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $712.75 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that HNI will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HNI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. HNI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.16%.

About HNI

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.