Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) by 31.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 223,659 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 102,692 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.14% of Nordstrom worth $5,030,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Nordstrom by 101.8% in the 2nd quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,491 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in Nordstrom in the second quarter worth about $39,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Nordstrom by 10,045.8% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,435 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 2,411 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Nordstrom during the second quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in Nordstrom by 28.7% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,628 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the period. 88.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nordstrom Stock Down 1.8 %

JWN stock opened at $22.26 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25 and a beta of 2.59. Nordstrom, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.68 and a 12 month high of $24.93. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.88 billion. Nordstrom had a negative return on equity of 21.26% and a negative net margin of 1.44%. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Nordstrom, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Nordstrom Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. Nordstrom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of Nordstrom in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Nordstrom from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Nordstrom from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Nordstrom from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Nordstrom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Nordstrom has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.58.

Insider Activity at Nordstrom

In other news, COO Alexis Depree sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $464,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 169,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,928,479.20. This represents a 10.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.78% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Nordstrom

Nordstrom, Inc, a fashion retailer, provides apparels, shoes, beauty, accessories, and home goods for women, men, young adults, and children. It offers a range of brand-name and private-label merchandise through various channels, such as Nordstrom branded stores and online at Nordstrom.com; Nordstrom.ca; Nordstrom stores; Nordstrom Rack stores; Nordstrom Locals; ASOS; Nordstromrack.com; mobile application; and clearance stores under the Last Chance name.