HNI (NYSE:HNI) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $29.65 and last traded at $29.9770, with a volume of 18111 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $30.16.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HNI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of HNI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of HNI from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of HNI from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.00.

HNI Stock Up 4.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 1.01.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. HNI had a net margin of 0.04% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 124.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that HNI Corporation will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

HNI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is an increase from HNI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. HNI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 331.71%.

Institutional Trading of HNI

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HNI. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of HNI by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of HNI by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of HNI by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 28,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,252,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HNI during the 1st quarter valued at about $10,666,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in HNI by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 142,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,311,000 after purchasing an additional 9,730 shares during the last quarter. 75.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About HNI

HNI Corporation, founded in 1944 as the Heating & Novelty Company and headquartered in Muscatine, Iowa, is a leading manufacturer of office furniture and hearth products. Over its history, the company has evolved from producing gas heaters into two primary business segments: Office Furniture and Hearth & Home. HNI’s Office Furniture division operates under well-known brands such as The HON Company, Allsteel, Gunlocke and Kimball, offering a comprehensive portfolio of workstations, seating, tables, storage solutions and acoustic products tailored for corporate, education, healthcare and government markets.

In its Hearth & Home segment, HNI designs, manufactures and distributes fireplaces, stoves, fireplace inserts, logs and related accessories.