Sound Income Strategies LLC Takes $54,000 Position in CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO)

Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $54,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in CNO Financial Group by 300.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,199,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,086,000 after buying an additional 899,990 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in CNO Financial Group by 28.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,040,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,526,000 after buying an additional 232,631 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 346.9% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 197,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,479,000 after acquiring an additional 153,424 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of CNO Financial Group by 113.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 219,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,691,000 after acquiring an additional 116,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 6.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,899,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,676,000 after acquiring an additional 107,589 shares during the last quarter. 95.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Rocco F. Tarasi III sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.51, for a total transaction of $168,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 72,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,734,328.96. This represents a 5.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CIO Eric R. Johnson sold 3,978 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total value of $155,500.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 631,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,698,781.96. This represents a 0.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,745 shares of company stock worth $572,467 over the last three months. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CNO Financial Group Price Performance

CNO opened at $38.84 on Friday. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.92 and a 1 year high of $40.91. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.01 billion, a PE ratio of 15.66 and a beta of 1.04. 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 (NYSE:CNO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.29. CNO Financial Group had a net margin of 6.06% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $945.44 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. CNO Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CNO Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

CNO Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNO has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of CNO Financial Group from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of CNO Financial Group from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.17.

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.