HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 863,600 shares, a decrease of 6.5% from the November 15th total of 923,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 280,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised HNI from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st.

HNI Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of HNI stock traded up $0.36 on Monday, hitting $54.13. The stock had a trading volume of 351,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 257,279. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $54.25 and a 200 day moving average of $51.14. HNI has a twelve month low of $39.95 and a twelve month high of $58.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.88.

HNI (NYSE:HNI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $672.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $712.75 million. HNI had a return on equity of 19.29% and a net margin of 4.83%. The firm's revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that HNI will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HNI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. HNI's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Larry B. Porcellato sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total value of $113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 37,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,157,266. This represents a 5.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Scott Smith sold 2,284 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total value of $123,336.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,902 shares of the company's stock, valued at $642,708. This represents a 16.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HNI

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of HNI by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,542 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $101,033,000 after buying an additional 20,717 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of HNI by 275.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,836,205 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $98,861,000 after buying an additional 1,346,999 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of HNI by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,625,534 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $73,180,000 after buying an additional 9,901 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HNI by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,084,830 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $58,419,000 after purchasing an additional 7,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of HNI by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 565,012 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,437,000 after purchasing an additional 17,151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.26% of the company's stock.

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.

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