HNI (NYSE:HNI) Shares Pass Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI) shares crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $39.47 and traded as high as $42.24. HNI shares last traded at $40.3030, with a volume of 630,826 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark reduced their price objective on HNI from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded HNI from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.00.

HNI Stock Down 2.6%

The firm has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $34.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.47.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. HNI had a net margin of 0.04% and a return on equity of 13.17%. HNI’s revenue was up 124.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that HNI Corporation will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HNI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is a boost from HNI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. HNI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 341.46%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HNI

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in shares of HNI by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 754,493 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,719,000 after purchasing an additional 140,971 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HNI in the first quarter valued at $10,666,000. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in HNI during the first quarter valued at about $10,301,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in HNI by 7.3% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 142,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,311,000 after buying an additional 9,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in HNI by 167.4% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 42,621 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,792,000 after acquiring an additional 26,683 shares during the period. 75.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About HNI

HNI Corporation, founded in 1944 as the Heating & Novelty Company and headquartered in Muscatine, Iowa, is a leading manufacturer of office furniture and hearth products. Over its history, the company has evolved from producing gas heaters into two primary business segments: Office Furniture and Hearth & Home. HNI’s Office Furniture division operates under well-known brands such as The HON Company, Allsteel, Gunlocke and Kimball, offering a comprehensive portfolio of workstations, seating, tables, storage solutions and acoustic products tailored for corporate, education, healthcare and government markets.

In its Hearth & Home segment, HNI designs, manufactures and distributes fireplaces, stoves, fireplace inserts, logs and related accessories.