Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 59,939 Shares of Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 598,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,939 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.56% of Camden Property Trust worth $69,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Camden Property Trust by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Camden Property Trust by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 245 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Camden Property Trust in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in Camden Property Trust by 117.0% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Camden Property Trust by 42.7% during the 3rd quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 428 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Camden Property Trust

In other news, CFO Alexander J. Jessett sold 13,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.50, for a total value of $1,496,171.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 124,246 shares in the company, valued at $14,226,167. This represents a 9.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard J. Campo sold 7,324 shares of Camden Property Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.50, for a total value of $838,598.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 300,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,365,457.50. This represents a 2.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,413 shares of company stock worth $2,895,718 over the last 90 days. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CPT. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Camden Property Trust from $121.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Camden Property Trust from $121.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Camden Property Trust from $127.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Camden Property Trust from $129.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Camden Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $129.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.53.

Camden Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of CPT stock opened at $118.94 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $115.03 and a 200 day moving average of $119.26. Camden Property Trust has a 1 year low of $92.26 and a 1 year high of $127.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.14 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.94.

Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Camden Property Trust had a return on equity of 3.35% and a net margin of 10.58%. As a group, research analysts expect that Camden Property Trust will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Camden Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $1.05 dividend. This is an increase from Camden Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Camden Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 274.67%.

Camden Property Trust Company Profile

Camden Property Trust, an S&P 500 Company, is a real estate company primarily engaged in the ownership, management, development, redevelopment, acquisition, and construction of multifamily apartment communities. Camden owns and operates 172 properties containing 58,250 apartment homes across the United States.