Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Stake in CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 24,078 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $896,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 368.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 796 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 95.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 855 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 955 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 193.2% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 137.8% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,334 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. 95.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CNO Financial Group Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of CNO Financial Group stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $37.97. The company had a trading volume of 615,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 710,527. The company's 50-day moving average is $38.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.99. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.36 and a twelve month high of $43.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.22 and a quick ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 0.90.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.79. The business had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $975.80 million. CNO Financial Group had a net margin of 9.08% and a return on equity of 17.20%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. Analysts anticipate that CNO Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a positive change from CNO Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. CNO Financial Group's payout ratio is 23.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on CNO Financial Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on CNO Financial Group from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CNO Financial Group from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CNO Financial Group news, insider Scott L. Goldberg sold 25,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $1,020,510.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 169,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,066.84. The trade was a 13.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jeremy David Williams sold 3,393 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.77, for a total value of $141,725.61. Following the sale, the insider now owns 56,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,364,140.23. The trade was a 5.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,912 shares of company stock valued at $3,168,838 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

CNO Financial Group Company Profile

CNO Financial Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, insurance products, and financial services for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face.