Brokerages Set CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) Target Price at $46.25

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.25.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CNO shares. Evercore restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of CNO Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of CNO Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CNO Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of CNO Financial Group from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CNO Financial Group news, CMO Rocco F. Tarasi III sold 9,283 shares of CNO Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.60, for a total value of $395,455.80. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 73,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,149,503.20. The trade was a 11.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Yvonne K. Franzese sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.17, for a total value of $388,530.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 35,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,513,626.54. This trade represents a 20.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 226,431 shares of company stock worth $9,715,996. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CNO Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its holdings in shares of CNO Financial Group by 90.1% during the 3rd quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in CNO Financial Group by 353.0% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp acquired a new stake in CNO Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in CNO Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 123.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 649 shares in the last quarter. 95.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CNO Financial Group Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:CNO opened at $42.58 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 0.83. CNO Financial Group has a 1 year low of $34.63 and a 1 year high of $44.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.96.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $101.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. CNO Financial Group had a return on equity of 15.80% and a net margin of 4.94%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. Analysts expect that CNO Financial Group will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CNO Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 30.49%.

About CNO Financial Group

CNO Financial Group is an Indiana‐based holding company that offers a range of insurance and retirement solutions through its operating subsidiaries. Its primary business activities include life insurance, annuities, and supplemental health insurance products designed to help individuals plan for retirement and manage health‐related expenses. The company serves middle‐income Americans, with particular emphasis on senior customers seeking guaranteed coverage and reliable income streams.

Originally founded as Conseco in 1979, the company underwent a financial restructuring and rebranded as CNO Financial Group in 2010.