Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 4,126 Shares of NovoCure Limited (NASDAQ:NVCR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in NovoCure Limited (NASDAQ:NVCR) by 18.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,287 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,126 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NovoCure were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NovoCure during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,543,000. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of NovoCure during the fourth quarter worth $6,479,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NovoCure by 305.6% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 475,226 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $7,428,000 after buying an additional 358,062 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NovoCure by 309.8% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 409,794 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,020,000 after acquiring an additional 309,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NovoCure by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,023,981 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $156,675,000 after acquiring an additional 264,883 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

NovoCure Stock Performance

Shares of NVCR stock opened at $18.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of -10.26 and a beta of 0.71. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 6.46 and a quick ratio of 6.22. NovoCure Limited has a one year low of $10.87 and a one year high of $24.74.

NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The medical equipment provider reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.09. NovoCure had a negative net margin of 30.67% and a negative return on equity of 45.68%. The company had revenue of $150.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $135.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.54) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that NovoCure Limited will post -1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on NovoCure from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of NovoCure from $14.50 to $20.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of NovoCure from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of NovoCure in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.50.

NovoCure Company Profile

NovoCure Limited, an oncology company, engages in the development, manufacture, and commercialization of tumor treating fields (TTFields) devices for the treatment of solid tumor cancers in the United States, Germany, Japan, Greater China, and internationally. The company's TTFields devices include Optune Gio and Optune Lua.