Principal Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in Five9, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Five9, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 6,584 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Five9 by 35.9% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 522,611 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $21,281,000 after acquiring an additional 138,019 shares during the period. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Five9 in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $408,000. Gagnon Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Five9 by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 366,096 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $14,878,000 after acquiring an additional 34,597 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Five9 by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,373 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Five9 by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 35,372 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,438,000 after buying an additional 7,140 shares during the period. 96.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Five9

In other Five9 news, COO Andy Dignan sold 2,840 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.23, for a total transaction of $94,373.20. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 194,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,453,299.23. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Burkland sold 12,595 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.63, for a total transaction of $448,759.85. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 404,056 shares in the company, valued at $14,396,515.28. The trade was a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,039 shares of company stock valued at $930,029 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Five9 Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ FIVN opened at $32.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -162.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.41 and a beta of 0.93. Five9, Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.60 and a 12 month high of $63.79.

Five9 (NASDAQ:FIVN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The software maker reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.44). The company had revenue of $278.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $267.70 million. Five9 had a negative net margin of 1.23% and a positive return on equity of 3.62%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Five9, Inc. will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Five9 in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Five9 from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Five9 from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Five9 from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Five9 in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.65.

Five9 Company Profile

Five9, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides intelligent cloud software for contact centers in the United States, India, and internationally. It offers a virtual contact center cloud platform that delivers a suite of applications, which enables the breadth of contact center-related customer service, sales, and marketing functions.