HNI (NYSE:HNI) Sets New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HNI. Weiss Ratings lowered HNI from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Benchmark cut their price target on HNI from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered HNI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.00.

HNI Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. HNI had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 0.04%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 124.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that HNI Corporation will post 4 EPS for the current year.

HNI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is a positive change from HNI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. HNI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 331.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HNI. Cooke & Bieler LP purchased a new position in shares of HNI during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,744,000. Millennium Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of HNI during the 1st quarter valued at $10,666,000. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of HNI during the 1st quarter valued at $10,301,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of HNI by 167.4% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 42,621 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,792,000 after purchasing an additional 26,683 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of HNI during the 3rd quarter valued at $676,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

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.