AQR Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN)

AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN - Free Report) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 137,420 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 14,739 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.34% of Horace Mann Educators worth $5,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HMN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 183.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,162,264 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $84,827,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400,210 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,463,931 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $135,890,000 after acquiring an additional 521,437 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Horace Mann Educators by 203.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 329,964 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $12,944,000 after acquiring an additional 221,233 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Horace Mann Educators during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,209,000. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,252,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on HMN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Horace Mann Educators from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Horace Mann Educators in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Horace Mann Educators from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Horace Mann Educators from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.67.

Horace Mann Educators Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HMN traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $41.98. The company had a trading volume of 188,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 242,157. Horace Mann Educators Co. has a 1 year low of $31.81 and a 1 year high of $43.69. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $41.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93 and a beta of 0.28.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The insurance provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $416.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $421.40 million. Horace Mann Educators had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 6.44%. Horace Mann Educators's revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Horace Mann Educators Co. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Horace Mann Educators Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.35 dividend. This is a boost from Horace Mann Educators's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Horace Mann Educators's payout ratio is presently 50.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.40, for a total value of $207,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 315,451 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,059,671.40. This represents a 1.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 2,816 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.86, for a total value of $120,693.76. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at $584,738.98. The trade was a 17.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,816 shares of company stock valued at $543,144 over the last ninety days. 4.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Horace Mann Educators

Horace Mann Educators Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an insurance holding company in the United States. The company operates through Property & Casualty, Life & Retirement, and Supplemental & Group Benefits segments. Its Property & Casualty segment offers insurance products, including private passenger auto insurance, residential home insurance, and personal umbrella insurance; and provides auto coverages including liability and collision, and property coverage for homeowners and renters.