Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) Short Interest Up 8.1% in November

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Horace Mann Educators news, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 5,634 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now owns 19,057 shares in the company, valued at $801,918.56. This trade represents a 22.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.24, for a total transaction of $148,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 292,336 shares in the company, valued at $10,886,592.64. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,751 shares of company stock worth $2,114,775. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HMN. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 1,798.0% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 949 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 899 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 142.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 920 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Horace Mann Educators during the second quarter valued at about $35,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 60.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,671 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Horace Mann Educators during the second quarter worth about $59,000. 99.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Horace Mann Educators Stock Down 0.2 %

HMN traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $40.98. The company had a trading volume of 31,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 240,495. Horace Mann Educators has a 52 week low of $31.81 and a 52 week high of $43.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 0.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $38.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.45.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The insurance provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $412.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $293.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Horace Mann Educators will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Horace Mann Educators

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.