Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNRC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNRC) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,631 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,060 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Generac worth $8,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Generac by 13.1% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 787 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in Generac by 42.9% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its holdings in Generac by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 53,052 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,983 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Generac by 77.3% in the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 473,047 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,077,000 after purchasing an additional 206,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kampmann Melissa S. lifted its holdings in shares of Generac by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Kampmann Melissa S. now owns 15,915 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,016,000 after acquiring an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Generac from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Generac in a report on Monday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $182.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Generac in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Generac from $171.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities cut their target price on shares of Generac from $173.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $169.17.

Insider Transactions at Generac

In other news, CEO Aaron Jagdfeld sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.40, for a total transaction of $712,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 562,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,166,358.40. This trade represents a 0.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Generac Stock Down 1.0%

GNRC stock opened at $148.97 on Tuesday. Generac Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.50 and a 12 month high of $195.94. The firm has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a PE ratio of 25.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.27. Generac had a net margin of 7.68% and a return on equity of 18.90%. The company had revenue of $942.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $921.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Generac Holdings Inc. will post 8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Generac Profile

Generac Holdings Inc designs, manufactures, and distributes various energy technology products and solution worldwide. The company offers residential automatic standby generators, automatic transfer switch, air-cooled engine residential standby generators, and liquid-cooled engine generators; Mobile Link, a remote monitoring system for home standby generators; residential storage solution, which consists of a system of batteries, an inverter, photovoltaic optimizers, power electronic controls, and other components; smart home solutions, such as smart thermostats and a suite of home monitoring products.