ProShare Advisors LLC Has $7.63 Million Stake in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI)

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 151,484 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,087 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in HNI were worth $7,630,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of HNI by 85.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in HNI by 649.1% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 809 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in HNI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of HNI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $121,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in shares of HNI in the fourth quarter worth $176,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at HNI

In other HNI news, insider Brian Scott Smith sold 556 shares of HNI stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.90, for a total transaction of $27,744.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,394 shares in the company, valued at $718,260.60. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HNI. Longbow Research initiated coverage on shares of HNI in a research note on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of HNI from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Susquehanna assumed coverage on HNI in a research note on Friday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock.

HNI Stock Up 0.4%

HNI opened at $47.94 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.53 and a 200-day moving average of $48.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. HNI Co. has a 1-year low of $39.76 and a 1-year high of $58.42.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.09. HNI had a net margin of 5.52% and a return on equity of 18.27%. The firm had revenue of $599.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $580.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that HNI Co. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

HNI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This is an increase from HNI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. HNI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.40%.

HNI Profile

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.