CNO Financial Group, Inc. (CNO) – What Are Investment Firms Saying About This Stock?

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.00.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CNO. Capital One Financial set a $70.00 target price on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of CNO Financial Group from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CNO Financial Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of CNO Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CNO Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th.

CNO Financial Group Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE CNO traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $53.40. The company had a trading volume of 23,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,161. The company has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 18.31 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. CNO Financial Group has a one year low of $38.22 and a one year high of $57.59.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.29. CNO Financial Group had a return on equity of 18.76% and a net margin of 6.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $999.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that CNO Financial Group will post 4.74 EPS for the current year.

CNO Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 10th. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 24.74%.

Insider Activity at CNO Financial Group

In related news, insider Karen DeToro sold 5,964 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total transaction of $328,735.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 36,450 shares in the company, valued at $2,009,124. This represents a 14.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Jeanne Linnenbringer sold 3,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.11, for a total value of $215,976.09. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,444,377.99. This trade represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 47,995 shares of company stock valued at $2,641,336 over the last ninety days. 3.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in CNO Financial Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,125,000. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in CNO Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,089,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in CNO Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $682,433,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in CNO Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,545,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 102.1% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 45,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,914,000 after acquiring an additional 22,749 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.43% of the company’s stock.

About CNO Financial Group

CNO Financial Group, Inc is a holding company that provides insurance and related financial services to middle-income Americans. Through its operating companies, CNO offers products designed to help individuals and families address retirement income, life insurance, health care and long-term financial protection needs.

The company’s primary brands include Bankers Life, which distributes insurance and annuity products through agents; Washington National, which focuses on supplemental health and life insurance; and Colonial Penn, which markets life and supplemental health insurance directly to consumers.