HNI (NYSE:HNI) Shares Cross Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI) crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $39.53 and traded as high as $39.96. HNI shares last traded at $39.61, with a volume of 2,684,417 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HNI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of HNI from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of HNI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of HNI from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.00.

HNI Stock Up 1.3%

The business has a fifty day moving average of $33.60 and a 200 day moving average of $39.53. The company has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a PE ratio of 96.61, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

HNI (NYSE:HNI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. HNI had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 0.04%.HNI’s revenue was up 124.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that HNI Corporation will post 4 EPS for the current year.

HNI Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HNI

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HNI. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in HNI by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after buying an additional 1,472 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of HNI by 6.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of HNI by 4.8% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 28,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,252,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HNI in the first quarter valued at $10,666,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in HNI by 7.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 9,730 shares during the period. 75.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HNI Company Profile

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.