Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 32,208 Tecnoglass Inc. (NASDAQ:TGLS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Tecnoglass Inc. (NASDAQ:TGLS) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 32,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,211,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.07% of Tecnoglass as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amalgamated Bank bought a new stake in shares of Tecnoglass in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Tecnoglass by 4,735.7% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 663 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Tecnoglass in the 3rd quarter valued at $204,000. X Square Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tecnoglass by 5.7% in the second quarter. X Square Capital LLC now owns 4,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC bought a new stake in Tecnoglass during the second quarter worth $220,000. 37.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Tecnoglass Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TGLS opened at $76.44 on Friday. Tecnoglass Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.94 and a fifty-two week high of $86.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.89 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $77.85 and its 200 day moving average is $65.95.

Tecnoglass (NASDAQ:TGLS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.11. Tecnoglass had a return on equity of 27.71% and a net margin of 17.82%. The company had revenue of $237.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Tecnoglass’s revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tecnoglass Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Tecnoglass Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from Tecnoglass’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Tecnoglass’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on TGLS shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Tecnoglass from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Raymond James cut Tecnoglass from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $72.00 target price (up from $69.00) on shares of Tecnoglass in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Sidoti cut shares of Tecnoglass from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Tecnoglass in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tecnoglass

In related news, Director Julio A. Torres sold 30,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $2,222,771.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Holding Corp Energy sold 1,432,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.02, for a total value of $104,573,402.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 23,195,988 shares in the company, valued at $1,693,771,043.76. This trade represents a 5.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Tecnoglass Profile

Tecnoglass Inc manufactures, supplies, and installs architectural glass, windows, and associated aluminum and vinyl products for commercial and residential construction markets in Colombia, the United States, Panama, and internationally. The company provides low emissivity, laminated/thermo-laminated, thermo-acoustic, tempered, silk-screened, curved, and digital print glass products.