CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) CEO Gary C. Bhojwani Sells 9,434 Shares

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) CEO Gary C. Bhojwani sold 9,434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total transaction of $253,491.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 332,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,939,487.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

CNO Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:CNO opened at $27.40 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $26.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 1.03. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.95 and a twelve month high of $28.39.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $934.05 million. CNO Financial Group had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 17.51%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CNO Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. CNO Financial Group’s payout ratio is 24.90%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CNO Financial Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of CNO Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. KBC Group NV purchased a new stake in CNO Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. West Tower Group LLC purchased a new stake in CNO Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in CNO Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in CNO Financial Group by 95.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the period. 95.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CNO shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of CNO Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of CNO Financial Group from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CNO Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.80.

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.