CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.12 EPS

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) released its earnings results on Monday. The financial services provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.12), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $935.76 million. CNO Financial Group had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 17.51%. CNO Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share.

CNO Financial Group Trading Up 1.9 %

CNO Financial Group stock opened at $26.89 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 1.03. CNO Financial Group has a 1 year low of $19.95 and a 1 year high of $28.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $26.61 and its 200-day moving average is $26.33. 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of CNO Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on CNO Financial Group from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on CNO Financial Group from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut CNO Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Gary C. Bhojwani sold 16,837 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total value of $454,599.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 406,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,983,816. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Gary C. Bhojwani sold 16,837 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $454,599.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 406,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,983,816. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary C. Bhojwani sold 18,692 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.52, for a total transaction of $514,403.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,641,335.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 152,590 shares of company stock worth $4,116,255 in the last three months. 3.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.