HNI (NYSE:HNI) Stock Breaks Above Fifty Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Shares of HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI) passed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $47.28 and traded as high as $50.18. HNI shares last traded at $49.8570, with a volume of 667,050 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on HNI shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded HNI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 12th. Weiss Ratings raised HNI from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 4th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of HNI in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $65.00 price target on HNI in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.00.

HNI Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The business services provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.23. HNI had a net margin of 1.00% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 132.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that HNI Corporation will post 4.35 EPS for the current year.

HNI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 11th. Investors of record on Friday, August 28th were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 28th. HNI’s dividend payout ratio is 318.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HNI news, CEO Jeffrey Lorenger sold 1,504 shares of HNI stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $75,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 148,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,424,500. The trade was a 1.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,288 shares of company stock worth $2,468,419. Company insiders own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HNI

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in HNI during the second quarter valued at approximately $431,744,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of HNI during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,988,000. Front Street Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HNI during the 2nd quarter valued at $23,462,000. Pillsbury Lake Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of HNI during the 2nd quarter valued at $16,681,571. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of HNI during the 2nd quarter valued at $15,724,000. 75.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HNI Company Profile

HNI Corporation is a workplace furnishings and residential building products company. Its workplace furnishings business designs and manufactures office furniture and related products for businesses, government organizations, educational institutions and other customers. Its portfolio includes brands such as HON, Allsteel and Gunlocke, with products ranging from office seating and desks to workstations and storage. HNI also makes fireplaces, stoves and related hearth products through brands including Heat & Glo, Heatilator, Majestic, Harman and Quadra-Fire.