Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Pinterest, Inc. $PINS

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,312,613 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,200 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.20% of Pinterest worth $24,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Pinterest by 2,298.3% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 185,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,701,000 after acquiring an additional 177,449 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden raised its holdings in shares of Pinterest by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 397,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,289,000 after acquiring an additional 150,900 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Pinterest during the fourth quarter valued at $12,812,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its position in Pinterest by 103.4% during the fourth quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 838,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,709,000 after purchasing an additional 426,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Freemont Management S.A. bought a new position in Pinterest during the fourth quarter valued at $2,540,000. 88.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pinterest

In other news, Director Benjamin Silbermann sold 46,875 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.63, for a total transaction of $1,060,781.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Wanjiku Juanita Walcott sold 14,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.65, for a total value of $279,187.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 691,840 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,594,656. This represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 323,845 shares of company stock valued at $6,836,065 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 8.09% of the company’s stock.

Pinterest Stock Performance

Pinterest stock opened at $22.82 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a current ratio of 4.23. Pinterest, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.84 and a fifty-two week high of $39.93. The company has a market capitalization of $12.78 billion, a PE ratio of 47.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.89.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $965.84 million. Pinterest had a return on equity of 8.26% and a net margin of 7.64%.Pinterest’s revenue was up 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pinterest, Inc. will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PINS shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Pinterest from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Pinterest from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Pinterest from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Pinterest in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Pinterest from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pinterest has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.66.

About Pinterest

Pinterest, Inc operates a visual discovery platform that helps users find inspiration and ideas for projects ranging from home design and fashion to cooking and travel. Users create and curate “Pins” — images or videos linked to content — organized on thematic boards. The service is available through its website and mobile applications and emphasizes personalized recommendations and visual search to surface relevant content based on user interests.

The company’s primary revenue model is advertising, offering promoted content formats that integrate into user feeds and search results.