Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 27,337 Shares of Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NWBI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NWBI) by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 600,445 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 27,337 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.47% of Northwest Bancshares worth $8,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NWBI. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Northwest Bancshares by 93.7% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northwest Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $61,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Northwest Bancshares by 66.5% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,769 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 2,304 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Northwest Bancshares by 1,238.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,459 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 5,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Northwest Bancshares by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,195 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 2,249 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised Northwest Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Northwest Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ NWBI opened at $14.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.99 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Northwest Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.45 and a 12-month high of $15.35.

Northwest Bancshares (NASDAQ:NWBI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The savings and loans company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26. Northwest Bancshares had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 8.24%. The firm had revenue of $199.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.80 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Northwest Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Northwest Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.26%.

Northwest Bancshares Profile

Northwest Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Northwest Bank, a state-chartered savings bank that provides personal and business banking solutions. The company accepts various deposits, including checking, savings, money market deposit, term certificate, and individual retirement accounts.