Sit Investment Associates Inc. Acquires 400 Shares of Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Horace Mann Educators Co. (NYSE:HMN) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Horace Mann Educators were worth $856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Horace Mann Educators by 389.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 779 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Horace Mann Educators by 72.9% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,591 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Horace Mann Educators during the 4th quarter worth about $92,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Horace Mann Educators by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,378 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators in the third quarter valued at about $209,000. 99.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on HMN shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Horace Mann Educators from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Horace Mann Educators in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Horace Mann Educators from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.67.

Horace Mann Educators Trading Down 3.7 %

HMN stock opened at $41.48 on Monday. Horace Mann Educators Co. has a 1-year low of $31.81 and a 1-year high of $43.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The business’s 50 day moving average is $41.13 and its 200-day moving average is $39.46. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.73 and a beta of 0.21.

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.58. Horace Mann Educators had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 6.44%. Equities analysts anticipate that Horace Mann Educators Co. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Horace Mann Educators Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Horace Mann Educators’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. Horace Mann Educators’s payout ratio is 56.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Beverley J. Mcclure sold 2,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.86, for a total transaction of $120,693.76. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,643 shares in the company, valued at $584,738.98. This represents a 17.11 % 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, CEO Marita Zuraitis sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total value of $215,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 320,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,808,233.59. This represents a 1.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,816 shares of company stock valued at $485,624. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Horace Mann Educators

Horace Mann Educators Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an insurance holding company in the United States. The company operates through Property & Casualty, Life & Retirement, and Supplemental & Group Benefits segments. Its Property & Casualty segment offers insurance products, including private passenger auto insurance, residential home insurance, and personal umbrella insurance; and provides auto coverages including liability and collision, and property coverage for homeowners and renters.