Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Buys New Position in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,087 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $55,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in HNI by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 34,509 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,738,000 after acquiring an additional 6,497 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of HNI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $992,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of HNI by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,091,498 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $54,992,000 after buying an additional 6,668 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in HNI by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 55,606 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,801,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in HNI during the fourth quarter worth $121,000. 75.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Brian Scott Smith sold 556 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.90, for a total value of $27,744.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,394 shares in the company, valued at $718,260.60. This trade represents a 3.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of HNI from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st.

HNI Price Performance

NYSE HNI opened at $43.25 on Thursday. HNI Co. has a 12-month low of $39.76 and a 12-month high of $58.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.78.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.13. HNI had a return on equity of 18.27% and a net margin of 5.52%. The company had revenue of $642.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $657.03 million. Analysts forecast that HNI Co. will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HNI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. HNI’s payout ratio is 45.67%.

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.