NewEdge Wealth LLC Buys New Position in CNO Financial Group, Inc. $CNO

NewEdge Wealth LLC bought a new stake in CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 15,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $796,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CNO. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CNO Financial Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $682,433,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CNO Financial Group by 0.3% in the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,470,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $101,456,000 after purchasing an additional 8,053 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,870,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,461,000 after purchasing an additional 317,690 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 8.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,492,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,282,000 after purchasing an additional 114,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in CNO Financial Group by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,218,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,730,000 after purchasing an additional 319,795 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.43% of the company’s stock.

CNO Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of CNO opened at $53.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35 and a beta of 0.81. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.22 and a 1-year high of $57.59. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.98. 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 (NYSE:CNO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $999.45 million. CNO Financial Group had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 18.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that CNO Financial Group, Inc. will post 4.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on CNO. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of CNO Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $53.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Evercore set a $48.00 price objective on CNO Financial Group and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded CNO Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised CNO Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CNO Financial Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.50.

Insider Transactions at CNO Financial Group

In related news, CMO Rocco F. Tarasi III sold 5,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $287,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 79,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,959,550. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary C. Bhojwani sold 86,048 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.48, for a total value of $4,429,751.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 174,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,971,110.72. The trade was a 33.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 95,106 shares of company stock worth $4,879,343. 3.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CNO Financial Group Profile

CNO Financial Group is an Indiana?based holding company that offers a range of insurance and retirement solutions through its operating subsidiaries. Its primary business activities include life insurance, annuities, and supplemental health insurance products designed to help individuals plan for retirement and manage health?related expenses. The company serves middle?income Americans, with particular emphasis on senior customers seeking guaranteed coverage and reliable income streams.

Originally founded as Conseco in 1979, the company underwent a financial restructuring and rebranded as CNO Financial Group in 2010.