Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE - Free Report) by 37.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 124,834 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 34,318 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.55% of Helen of Troy worth $7,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Helen of Troy by 374.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 280 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Helen of Troy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Signaturefd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Helen of Troy in the third quarter valued at about $61,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Helen of Troy by 153.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 576 shares of the company's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Helen of Troy during the first quarter worth about $256,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HELE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Helen of Troy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $84.00 price target on shares of Helen of Troy in a research note on Monday, October 7th.

Helen of Troy Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ HELE traded up $0.38 on Wednesday, reaching $67.47. 121,606 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 442,057. The company has a 50 day moving average of $63.62 and a 200 day moving average of $73.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Helen of Troy Limited has a fifty-two week low of $48.05 and a fifty-two week high of $127.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of 11.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.85.

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $474.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.85 million. Helen of Troy had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 9.31%. Helen of Troy's revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Helen of Troy Limited will post 6.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Helen of Troy declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 5th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 39.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Helen of Troy Company Profile

Helen of Troy Limited provides various consumer products in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in two segments: Home & Outdoor and Beauty & Wellness. The Home & Outdoor segment offers food storage containers, kitchen utensils for cooking and preparing salads, fruits, vegetables and meats, graters, slicers and choppers, baking essentials, kitchen organization, bath, cleaning, infant and toddler products, and coffee preparation tools and electronics; and insulated beverageware, including bottles, travel tumblers, drinkware, mugs, food and lunch containers, insulated totes, soft coolers, outdoor kitchenware, and accessories.