Grace & White Inc. NY Decreases Stake in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI)

Grace & White Inc. NY reduced its position in HNI Co. (NYSE:HNI - Free Report) by 31.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,514 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 24,455 shares during the period. Grace & White Inc. NY owned 0.11% of HNI worth $2,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in HNI during the third quarter worth approximately $56,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in HNI during the third quarter worth approximately $207,000. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in HNI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $216,000. OLD National Bancorp IN bought a new stake in HNI during the third quarter worth approximately $223,000. Finally, Carlson Capital Management bought a new stake in HNI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $228,000. 75.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Larry B. Porcellato sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total transaction of $88,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 40,718 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,791,592. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Larry B. Porcellato sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.00, for a total value of $88,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 40,718 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,791,592. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vincent P. Berger sold 9,976 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.01, for a total value of $429,067.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,025 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,882,745.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,374 shares of company stock valued at $749,534. 3.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut HNI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th.

HNI Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of HNI traded up $0.51 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $43.33. 165,195 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 256,431. The stock has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.86. The stock's 50-day moving average is $43.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.74. HNI Co. has a 12 month low of $24.81 and a 12 month high of $45.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

HNI (NYSE:HNI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $679.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $686.15 million. HNI had a return on equity of 16.97% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that HNI Co. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HNI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. HNI's dividend payout ratio is 125.49%.

HNI Profile

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.

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