Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $12.84 Million Stock Position in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 238,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,358 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in HNI were worth $12,839,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HNI. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of HNI by 3.1% during the second 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 during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in HNI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,148,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in HNI by 6.4% in the second quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 7,249 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of HNI in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,189,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP increased its position in shares of HNI by 5.2% during the second quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 75.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at HNI

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

HNI Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:HNI opened at $50.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.09. HNI Co. has a 52-week low of $39.95 and a 52-week high of $58.42.

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

HNI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. HNI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of HNI from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

HNI 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.