Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Pinterest, Inc. $PINS

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,312,613 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,200 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Pinterest were worth $24,073,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Pinterest by 55.1% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 15,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 5,501 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Pinterest by 122.4% in the first quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 70,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 38,838 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Pinterest by 4,264.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 156,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,871,000 after purchasing an additional 152,969 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Pinterest by 52.7% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 31,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,000 after buying an additional 10,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulcrum Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Pinterest by 2.3% during the first quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC now owns 139,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,553,000 after buying an additional 3,072 shares during the last quarter. 88.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PINS. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Pinterest in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Evercore set a $27.00 target price on shares of Pinterest in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Pinterest from $17.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Pinterest in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Pinterest from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.66.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Benjamin Silbermann sold 46,875 shares of Pinterest stock in a transaction dated 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Wanjiku Juanita Walcott sold 27,337 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.46, for a total value of $559,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 724,673 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,826,809.58. This represents a 3.64% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 323,845 shares of company stock valued at $6,836,065. Company insiders own 8.09% of the company’s stock.

Pinterest Price Performance

NYSE PINS opened at $22.82 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $12.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.54, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 4.23 and a quick ratio of 4.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.74. Pinterest, Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.84 and a 1 year high of $39.93.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during 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%.The firm’s revenue was up 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.23 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Pinterest, Inc. will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Pinterest Company Profile

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.