HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI) Shares Purchased by Royce & Associates LP

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in HNI Corporation by 140.2% in Q1, acquiring an additional 10,978 shares, valuing their total holdings at $834,000.
• HNI Corporation reported earnings of $1.11 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates by $0.25, with a total revenue of $667.1 million, up 7% from the previous year.
• The company has recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.34 per share, marking a 3% increase from the prior dividend, and representing a annualized yield of 2.59%.

Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI - Free Report) by 140.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,811 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 10,978 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP's holdings in HNI were worth $834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of HNI by 649.1% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 809 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of HNI during the fourth quarter worth about $55,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of HNI by 3,984.9% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,165 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 2,112 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of HNI during the fourth quarter worth about $121,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of HNI by 205.8% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,670 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 2,470 shares in the last quarter. 75.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HNI. Susquehanna started coverage on shares of HNI in a report on Friday, May 16th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Longbow Research started coverage on shares of HNI in a report on Friday, May 16th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HNI from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th.

HNI Trading Down 1.0%

HNI stock traded down $0.50 during trading on Friday, reaching $50.94. The company had a trading volume of 66,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 324,513. HNI Corporation has a 12-month low of $39.76 and a 12-month high of $58.42. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $49.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.46.

HNI (NYSE:HNI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.25. HNI had a net margin of 5.73% and a return on equity of 20.08%. The firm had revenue of $667.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $646.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. HNI's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that HNI Corporation will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HNI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from HNI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. HNI's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HNI news, Director Miguel M. Calado sold 2,000 shares of HNI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 31,828 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,591,400. The trade was a 5.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Dean Hagedorn sold 1,440 shares of HNI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.07, for a total transaction of $67,780.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 36,711 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,727,986.77. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,383 shares of company stock worth $270,818. 3.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About HNI

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.