Lazard Asset Management LLC Trims Stake in Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN)

Lazard Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,230 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Horace Mann Educators were worth $3,908,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HMN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 183.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,162,264 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $84,827,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400,210 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,463,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $135,890,000 after purchasing an additional 521,437 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 203.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 329,964 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,944,000 after purchasing an additional 221,233 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,209,000. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,252,000. 99.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Horace Mann Educators

In related news, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.40, for a total value of $207,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 315,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,059,671.40. This trade represents a 1.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 2,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.86, for a total value of $120,693.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,738.98. This represents a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,816 shares of company stock worth $543,144. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Horace Mann Educators from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective 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. Raymond James upped their price objective on Horace Mann Educators from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Horace Mann Educators in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Horace Mann Educators from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Horace Mann Educators presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

Horace Mann Educators Stock Performance

HMN stock opened at $43.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of 17.54 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.53. Horace Mann Educators Co. has a 12-month low of $31.81 and a 12-month high of $44.27.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The insurance provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $416.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $421.40 million. Horace Mann Educators had a net margin of 6.44% and a return on equity of 10.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Horace Mann Educators Co. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Horace Mann Educators declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Horace Mann Educators Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Horace Mann Educators’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.72%.

Horace Mann Educators 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.