Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 153,250 Shares of Wolfspeed (NYSE:WOLF)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Wolfspeed (NYSE:WOLF) by 24.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 772,307 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 153,250 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.60% of Wolfspeed worth $2,363,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Wolfspeed by 51.4% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 2,533 shares during the last quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. acquired a new stake in Wolfspeed during the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,000. One68 Global Capital LLC bought a new position in Wolfspeed during the 4th quarter worth $67,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Wolfspeed during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance bought a new position in Wolfspeed during the 4th quarter worth $67,000.

Insider Activity

In other Wolfspeed news, CFO Neill Reynolds sold 13,909 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.99, for a total transaction of $55,496.91. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 195,257 shares in the company, valued at $779,075.43. This represents a 6.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Wolfspeed in a research report on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Wolfspeed from $15.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Wolfspeed from $10.00 to $6.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “sell” rating and set a $3.00 price objective (down previously from $7.00) on shares of Wolfspeed in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.15.

Wolfspeed Stock Performance

WOLF stock opened at $1.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $236.56 million, a PE ratio of -0.18 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 3.90, a current ratio of 4.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 30.65. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1.60 and a 200-day moving average of $3.77. Wolfspeed has a 12-month low of $0.39 and a 12-month high of $22.27.

Wolfspeed (NYSE:WOLF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.72) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by $0.10. Wolfspeed had a negative return on equity of 103.97% and a negative net margin of 146.43%. The company had revenue of $185.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.62) earnings per share. Wolfspeed’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Wolfspeed will post -4 earnings per share for the current year.

Wolfspeed Profile

Wolfspeed, Inc operates as a powerhouse semiconductor company focuses on silicon carbide and gallium nitride (GaN) technologies in Europe, Hong Kong, China, rest of Asia-Pacific, the United States, and internationally. It offers silicon carbide and GaN materials, including silicon carbide bare wafers, epitaxial wafers, and GaN epitaxial layers on silicon carbide wafers to manufacture products for RF, power, and other applications.