Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 40,384 Shares of Rush Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUSHA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Rush Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUSHA - Free Report) by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 291,599 shares of the company's stock after selling 40,384 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.37% of Rush Enterprises worth $15,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Rush Enterprises during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Rush Enterprises by 266.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 703 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rush Enterprises during the second quarter worth $41,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Rush Enterprises by 147.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 787 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rush Enterprises in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Rush Enterprises from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Transactions at Rush Enterprises

In other Rush Enterprises news, CEO William M. Rusty Rush sold 117,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $7,517,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,154 shares in the company, valued at $11,142,372.92. This trade represents a 40.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Steven L. Keller sold 14,625 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.50, for a total transaction of $855,562.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 83,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,876,852.50. The trade was a 14.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 176,000 shares of company stock worth $11,167,173. 12.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Rush Enterprises Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of RUSHA stock traded down $0.75 during trading on Friday, hitting $54.63. 568,095 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 358,952. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $58.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.00. Rush Enterprises, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.99 and a twelve month high of $65.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Rush Enterprises (NASDAQ:RUSHA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Rush Enterprises had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 3.93%. The firm's revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.96 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Rush Enterprises, Inc. will post 3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rush Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Rush Enterprises's dividend payout ratio is 19.10%.

Rush Enterprises Company Profile

Rush Enterprises, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retailer of commercial vehicles and related services in the United States and Canada. The company operates a network of commercial vehicle dealerships under the Rush Truck Centers name. Its Rush Truck Centers primarily sell commercial vehicles manufactured by Peterbilt, International, Hino, Ford, Isuzu, IC Bus, Blue Bird, and Dennis Eagle.