Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX - Free Report) by 37.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,679 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 22,450 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Ternium were worth $3,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Ternium in the first quarter worth about $107,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings in Ternium by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 21,934 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $914,000 after acquiring an additional 3,271 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Ternium by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,196,107 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $133,021,000 after acquiring an additional 56,379 shares during the period. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new position in Ternium during the first quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, Beck Bode LLC bought a new position in shares of Ternium in the first quarter worth approximately $1,253,000. 11.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ternium Price Performance

TX traded up $0.05 on Friday, hitting $33.43. 82,631 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 156,279. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $35.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.92, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Ternium S.A. has a one year low of $30.68 and a one year high of $44.44. The firm has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 1.77.

Ternium (NYSE:TX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.45 billion. Ternium had a net margin of 0.42% and a return on equity of 4.70%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ternium S.A. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Ternium Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a dividend yield of 8.5%. Ternium's payout ratio is 450.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ternium from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Ternium Profile

Ternium SA, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes steel products in Mexico, Southern Region, Brazil, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Steel, Mining, and Usiminas. The Steel segment offers slabs, hot and cold rolled products, coated products, roll formed and tubular products, bars, billets, and other products.