AQR Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Horace Mann Educators Corporation $HMN

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Horace Mann Educators Corporation by 12.0%, selling 16,555 shares and now owns approximately 0.30% of the company, valued at $5,165,000.
• Several institutional investors, like American Century Companies and GAMMA Investing LLC, have increased their holdings in Horace Mann Educators, with GAMMA increasing by an astounding 7,143.4%.
• Horace Mann Educators announced a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share, resulting in a 2.9% annual yield, payable on September 30th, with a payout ratio of 41.42%.

AQR Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN - Free Report) by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 120,865 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 16,555 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.30% of Horace Mann Educators worth $5,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Horace Mann Educators by 69.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,697 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Horace Mann Educators by 2,693.3% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,190 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 4,040 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Horace Mann Educators in the first quarter worth approximately $218,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Horace Mann Educators in the first quarter worth approximately $275,000. Finally, State of Wyoming raised its position in Horace Mann Educators by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 7,158 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $281,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.28% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Horace Mann Educators

In related news, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.28, for a total transaction of $211,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 302,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,775,113.40. This trade represents a 1.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Donald M. Carley sold 3,500 shares of Horace Mann Educators stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.94, for a total transaction of $160,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 22,092 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,014,906.48. The trade was a 13.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,500 shares of company stock valued at $815,340 over the last ninety days. 4.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on HMN. BMO Capital Markets set a $48.00 price target on shares of Horace Mann Educators and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Horace Mann Educators from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Horace Mann Educators from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.75.

Horace Mann Educators Price Performance

HMN traded up $0.63 during trading on Thursday, hitting $46.39. 271,760 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 194,538. The company has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73 and a beta of 0.27. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $44.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.67. Horace Mann Educators Corporation has a 1 year low of $34.19 and a 1 year high of $47.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The insurance provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $302.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $425.35 million. Horace Mann Educators had a net margin of 8.49% and a return on equity of 14.23%. Horace Mann Educators's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Horace Mann Educators Corporation will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Horace Mann Educators Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Horace Mann Educators's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.42%.

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.