Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $4.49 Million Stock Holdings in Varex Imaging Co. (NASDAQ:VREX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in Varex Imaging Co. (NASDAQ:VREX) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 246,737 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,757 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.61% of Varex Imaging worth $4,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Varex Imaging by 36.5% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 2,901 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Varex Imaging by 59.0% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 1,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Varex Imaging by 31.0% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 347,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,396,000 after purchasing an additional 82,155 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates bought a new position in shares of Varex Imaging in the first quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of Varex Imaging by 10.2% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 39,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $833,000 after purchasing an additional 3,627 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on VREX. TheStreet raised shares of Varex Imaging from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Varex Imaging in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Varex Imaging in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Varex Imaging from $22.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 24th.

Varex Imaging Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of VREX stock opened at $19.94 on Friday. Varex Imaging Co. has a 1 year low of $17.11 and a 1 year high of $23.90. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $805.58 million, a P/E ratio of 28.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 4.03, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Varex Imaging (NASDAQ:VREX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $232.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $228.57 million. Varex Imaging had a net margin of 3.28% and a return on equity of 8.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Varex Imaging Co. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

About Varex Imaging

Varex Imaging Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells X-ray imaging components. The company operates through two segments, Medical and Industrial. The Medical segment designs, manufactures, sells, and services X-ray imaging components comprising X-ray tubes, digital detectors, high voltage connectors, image-processing software and workstations, 3D reconstruction and computer-aided diagnostic software, collimators, automatic exposure control devices, generators, heat exchangers, ionization chambers, and buckys.