Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 11,607 Shares of Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 422,806 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,607 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.50% of Adient worth $7,285,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ADNT. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Adient by 38,074.9% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,144,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,110,000 after purchasing an additional 5,130,969 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Adient by 45.0% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,825,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,771,000 after purchasing an additional 877,142 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Adient by 9.3% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,197,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,298,000 after purchasing an additional 442,200 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adient in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,653,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Adient in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,175,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ADNT shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Adient from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $27.00 to $20.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America lowered Adient from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $24.00 in a report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Adient from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Adient from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Adient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.88.

Adient Price Performance

NYSE ADNT opened at $15.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $17.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.55. Adient plc has a 1 year low of $15.57 and a 1 year high of $35.94. The company has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 791.25, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 2.18.

Adient (NYSE:ADNT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.05). Adient had a negative net margin of 0.01% and a positive return on equity of 6.94%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Adient plc will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Adient

In related news, EVP James Conklin sold 11,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.25, for a total value of $232,875.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,049,537.25. This represents a 18.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Adient Profile

Adient plc engages in the design, development, manufacture, and market of seating systems and components for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and light trucks. The company's automotive seating solutions include complete seating systems, frames, mechanisms, foams, head restraints, armrests, and trim covers.