Principal Securities Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR)

Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,566 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Broadridge Financial Solutions were worth $1,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 83,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,946,000 after purchasing an additional 1,579 shares during the period. Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Broadridge Financial Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at about $539,000. Sunburst Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Broadridge Financial Solutions by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Broadridge Financial Solutions by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,770 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, One Plus One Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. One Plus One Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Broadridge Financial Solutions news, VP Laura Matlin sold 514 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.60, for a total transaction of $124,182.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,602 shares in the company, valued at $1,595,043.20. This represents a 7.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Thomas P. Carey sold 15,710 shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.32, for a total value of $3,618,327.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,797,466.72. The trade was a 56.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,666 shares of company stock valued at $5,050,766 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on BR shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Broadridge Financial Solutions from $246.00 to $259.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from $231.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from $207.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $239.17.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of BR stock opened at $239.01 on Wednesday. Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. has a twelve month low of $188.30 and a twelve month high of $244.47. The stock has a market cap of $27.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.40 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $232.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $222.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.24. Broadridge Financial Solutions had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 44.40%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. will post 8.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. Broadridge Financial Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.09%.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Profile

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc provides investor communications and technology-driven solutions for the financial services industry. The company's Investor Communication Solutions segment processes and distributes proxy materials to investors in equity securities and mutual funds, as well as facilitates related vote processing services; and distributes regulatory reports, class action, and corporate action/reorganization event information, as well as tax reporting solutions.