Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 713,600 shares, a growth of 47.2% from the March 31st total of 484,800 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 231,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Insider Transactions at Horace Mann Educators

In other Horace Mann Educators news, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total value of $215,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 320,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,808,233.59. The trade was a 1.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 2,816 shares of Horace Mann Educators 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 in the company, valued at $584,738.98. This represents a 17.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,816 shares of company stock valued at $543,144 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Horace Mann Educators

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 389.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 779 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 806.3% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,296 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Horace Mann Educators by 72.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,591 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Horace Mann Educators during the 4th quarter worth $92,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Horace Mann Educators by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,378 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HMN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Horace Mann Educators from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Horace Mann Educators from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Horace Mann Educators in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Horace Mann Educators Stock Performance

HMN traded up $0.02 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 49,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 243,341. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $41.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.27. Horace Mann Educators has a one year low of $31.81 and a one year high of $43.69.

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

Horace Mann Educators Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This is a boost from Horace Mann Educators's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Horace Mann Educators's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.45%.

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.