Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Purchases 111,000 Shares of HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI - Free Report) by 33.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 444,000 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 111,000 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.93% of HNI worth $22,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of HNI by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,718,014 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $288,016,000 after buying an additional 62,476 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of HNI by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,960,596 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $98,755,000 after buying an additional 124,391 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of HNI by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,623,706 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $81,786,000 after buying an additional 43,249 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HNI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $69,253,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of HNI by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,091,498 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $54,992,000 after buying an additional 6,668 shares in the last quarter. 75.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at HNI

In other news, insider Brian Scott Smith sold 556 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.90, for a total transaction of $27,744.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,394 shares of the company's stock, valued at $718,260.60. This represents a 3.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

HNI Price Performance

NYSE:HNI traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $42.47. The stock had a trading volume of 204,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 299,569. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.68. HNI Co. has a 12 month low of $39.76 and a 12 month high of $58.42.

HNI (NYSE:HNI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.13. HNI had a net margin of 5.52% and a return on equity of 18.27%. The company had revenue of $642.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $657.03 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that HNI Co. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

HNI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. HNI's payout ratio is 45.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of HNI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

HNI Company 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.