Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Stock

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) had its price objective boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from $40.00 to $45.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. 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. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 price objective (up from $44.00) on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CNO Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.50.

CNO Financial Group Stock Performance

CNO Financial Group stock opened at $40.59 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.32. CNO Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $24.92 and a fifty-two week high of $41.54. The company has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.85 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.19 and a quick ratio of 0.19.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.25. CNO Financial Group had a net margin of 9.08% and a return on equity of 17.21%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CNO Financial Group will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

CNO Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CNO Financial Group

In other CNO Financial Group news, CMO Rocco F. Tarasi III sold 4,500 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.51, for a total value of $168,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 72,896 shares in the company, valued at $2,734,328.96. The trade was a 5.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CIO Eric R. Johnson sold 3,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total transaction of $155,500.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 631,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,698,781.96. The trade was a 0.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,962 shares of company stock worth $380,717 over the last ninety days. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CNO Financial Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 51.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 1.7% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 22,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $795,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CNO Financial Group by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in CNO Financial Group by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 95.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.