CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Dividend Announcement

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $41.58 and last traded at $41.55, with a volume of 407802 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $40.59.

The newly announced 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. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on CNO Financial Group in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on CNO Financial Group from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of CNO Financial Group from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (up previously from $44.00) on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CNO Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.50.

CNO Financial Group Trading Up 2.4 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $38.34 and a 200 day moving average of $36.32. The firm has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.19.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.25. CNO Financial Group had a net margin of 9.08% and a return on equity of 17.21%. Analysts predict that CNO Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CNO Financial Group news, CMO Rocco F. Tarasi III sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.51, for a total transaction of $168,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 72,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,734,328.96. The trade was a 5.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CIO Eric R. Johnson sold 3,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total value of $155,500.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 631,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,698,781.96. This represents a 0.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,962 shares of company stock valued at $380,717 over the last three months. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CNO Financial Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of CNO Financial Group by 58.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 24,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $915,000 after acquiring an additional 9,096 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in CNO Financial Group by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,899,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,676,000 after purchasing an additional 107,589 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 39,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 16,420 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in CNO Financial Group by 113.7% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in shares of CNO Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $227,000. Institutional investors own 95.43% of the company’s stock.

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.