CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

CNO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target 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 upped their target price on CNO Financial Group from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.80.

CNO Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNO opened at $27.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.19 and a quick ratio of 0.19. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.87. CNO Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $19.95 and a fifty-two week high of $28.39.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.33. CNO Financial Group had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 6.67%. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $934.05 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that CNO Financial Group will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Matthew J. Zimpfer sold 3,220 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.76, for a total value of $86,167.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 278,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,465,959.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Scott L. Goldberg sold 7,325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total transaction of $195,211.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 178,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,751,561.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Matthew J. Zimpfer sold 3,220 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.76, for a total value of $86,167.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 278,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,465,959.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 98,040 shares of company stock worth $2,622,223. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CNO Financial Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP bought a new position in CNO Financial Group during the first quarter valued at $26,000. KBC Group NV bought a new position in CNO Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. West Tower Group LLC bought a new position in CNO Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in CNO Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 95.8% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the period. 95.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CNO Financial Group Company Profile

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.