Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 3,426 Shares of Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNRC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNRC - Free Report) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,272 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,426 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Generac worth $11,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in shares of Generac by 52.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 3,407 shares of the technology company's stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,177 shares during the period. Willis Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in Generac by 18.7% in the third quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 105,007 shares of the technology company's stock worth $16,684,000 after purchasing an additional 16,541 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Generac by 85.9% in the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 7,021 shares of the technology company's stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 3,244 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its stake in Generac by 54.1% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 11,984 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,904,000 after buying an additional 4,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Generac by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 185,193 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,425,000 after buying an additional 54,202 shares during the period. 84.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Generac Price Performance

Shares of Generac stock traded down $0.93 during trading on Monday, reaching $154.74. 658,398 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 923,168. Generac Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $108.89 and a 52-week high of $195.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $158.70. The company has a market capitalization of $9.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39.

Generac (NYSE:GNRC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.16 billion. Generac had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 7.17%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Generac Holdings Inc. will post 6.84 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on GNRC. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Generac from $172.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Generac from $160.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Generac from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Generac from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Generac from $128.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $175.30.

Insider Activity at Generac

In other Generac news, CFO York A. Ragen sold 29,081 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.73, for a total transaction of $5,372,133.13. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 135,613 shares in the company, valued at $25,051,789.49. This represents a 17.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Aaron Jagdfeld sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.60, for a total value of $833,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 557,177 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $92,825,688.20. This represents a 0.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,268 shares of company stock valued at $7,584,853. 2.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Generac

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.