CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.50.

CNO has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of CNO Financial Group in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 price target (up previously from $44.00) on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of CNO Financial Group from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of CNO Financial Group from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at CNO Financial Group

In other CNO Financial Group news, General Counsel Matthew J. Zimpfer sold 40,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.49, for a total transaction of $1,692,792.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 244,943 shares in the company, valued at $10,162,685.07. This represents a 14.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Rocco F. Tarasi III sold 1,484 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.02, for a total transaction of $56,421.68. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 79,896 shares in the company, valued at $3,037,645.92. This trade represents a 1.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 87,584 shares of company stock worth $3,554,089 in the last ninety days. 3.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CNO Financial Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 58.7% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 24,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $915,000 after purchasing an additional 9,096 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 6.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,899,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,676,000 after purchasing an additional 107,589 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 69.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 39,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 16,420 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 157,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,842,000 after purchasing an additional 8,689 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 113.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 219,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,691,000 after purchasing an additional 116,617 shares during the period. 95.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CNO Financial Group Stock Up 1.0 %

CNO stock opened at $41.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.03 and a beta of 1.04. CNO Financial Group has a 52 week low of $24.92 and a 52 week high of $42.02. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.25. CNO Financial Group had a net margin of 9.08% and a return on equity of 17.20%. On average, research analysts expect that CNO Financial Group will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.11%.

About CNO Financial Group

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.