Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires Shares of 138,239 CNO Financial Group, Inc. $CNO

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 138,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,871,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.14% of CNO Financial Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its position in shares of CNO Financial Group by 90.1% in the third quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. 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 bought a new position in CNO Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in CNO Financial Group by 123.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 649 shares during the period. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in CNO Financial Group by 39.2% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. 95.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at CNO Financial Group

In other news, insider Yvonne K. Franzese sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.17, for a total transaction of $388,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 35,062 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,513,626.54. This represents a 20.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott L. Goldberg sold 11,060 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.97, for a total value of $442,068.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 214,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,574,524.28. The trade was a 4.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 228,208 shares of company stock valued at $9,762,609 in the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CNO Financial Group Price Performance

CNO Financial Group stock opened at $39.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 0.17. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.63 and a 52 week high of $44.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.75 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.65 and a 200-day moving average of $41.11.

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $101.10 million for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CNO Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CNO Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. CNO Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CNO. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded CNO Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “hold” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of CNO Financial Group in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CNO Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.50.

CNO Financial Group Profile

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.