Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 834 Shares of QCR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCRH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in QCR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCRH) by 11.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,306 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in QCR were worth $615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in QCR in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of QCR during the first quarter valued at $43,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of QCR in the third quarter valued at about $111,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in QCR in the first quarter worth about $116,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in QCR during the 2nd quarter worth about $265,000. 70.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at QCR

In related news, CAO Nick W. Anderson sold 675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $55,302.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,069.26. This represents a 46.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up previously from $70.00) on shares of QCR in a report on Monday, July 29th.

QCR Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:QCRH opened at $92.67 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. QCR Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.47 and a 12-month high of $93.72. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.30.

QCR (NASDAQ:QCRH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $152.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.00 million. QCR had a return on equity of 12.92% and a net margin of 19.25%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that QCR Holdings, Inc. will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

QCR Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. QCR’s payout ratio is 3.48%.

QCR Company Profile

QCR Holdings, Inc, a multi-bank holding company, provides commercial and consumer banking, and trust and asset management services. The company’s deposit products include noninterest-bearing demand, interest-bearing demand, time, and brokered deposits. It also provides various commercial and retail lending/leasing, and investment services to corporations, partnerships, individuals, and government agencies.