Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports.
According to Zacks, “Horace Mann Educators Corporation is a multiline insurance holding company that targets the US educator market. The company and its subsidiaries, Horace Mann Insurance Co., Teachers Insurance Co., Horace Mann Life Insurance Co., and Allegiance Insurance Co., provide retirement annuities, automobile insurance, homeowners insurance, and life insurance to elementary and secondary teachers, administrators, and education support personnel in public and private schools. The company also offers group life and health insurance to school districts. “
Separately, Raymond James started coverage on Horace Mann Educators in a research note on Thursday, February 18th. They set a market perform rating for the company.
Horace Mann Educators stock opened at $38.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.24. Horace Mann Educators has a 52 week low of $32.35 and a 52 week high of $44.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.05 and a quick ratio of 0.05.
Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 4th. The insurance provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $322.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $327.27 million. Horace Mann Educators had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 11.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Horace Mann Educators will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 15th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. Horace Mann Educators’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.
In other news, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 3,333 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total value of $146,318.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Matthew P. Sharpe sold 987 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total value of $43,329.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,203 shares of company stock valued at $355,503 over the last 90 days. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 49.4% in the first quarter. Private Capital Group LLC now owns 1,046 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Vantage Consulting Group Inc purchased a new position in Horace Mann Educators in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Veriti Management LLC purchased a new position in Horace Mann Educators in the fourth quarter valued at about $71,000. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Horace Mann Educators by 900.7% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,882 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 2,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Horace Mann Educators in the first quarter valued at about $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.99% of the company’s stock.
Horace Mann Educators Company Profile
Horace Mann Educators Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multiline insurance company in the United States. The Company operates through five segments: Property and Casualty, Supplemental, Retirement, Life, and Corporate and Other. It underwrites and markets personal lines of property and casualty insurance, including personal lines automobile and property insurance products; supplemental insurance products, which includes cancer, heart, hospital, supplemental disability, and accident coverages; retirement products, such as tax-qualified fixed and variable annuities; and life insurance products comprising whole life and term and indexed universal life insurance.
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