Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) by 37.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 124,834 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 34,318 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.55% of Helen of Troy worth $7,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Helen of Troy in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in Helen of Troy by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,913,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $177,464,000 after purchasing an additional 36,095 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Helen of Troy by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Helen of Troy by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after buying an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Helen of Troy by 92.0% during the second quarter. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $412,000 after buying an additional 2,130 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HELE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Helen of Troy from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 target price on shares of Helen of Troy in a report on Monday, October 7th.

Helen of Troy Trading Up 0.6 %

HELE stock opened at $59.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 10.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $66.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.77. Helen of Troy Limited has a fifty-two week low of $48.05 and a fifty-two week high of $127.83.

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.16. Helen of Troy had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 9.31%. The firm had revenue of $474.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Helen of Troy Limited will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Helen of Troy declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 39.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Helen of Troy Profile

Helen of Troy Limited provides various consumer products in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in two segments: Home & Outdoor and Beauty & Wellness. The Home & Outdoor segment offers food storage containers, kitchen utensils for cooking and preparing salads, fruits, vegetables and meats, graters, slicers and choppers, baking essentials, kitchen organization, bath, cleaning, infant and toddler products, and coffee preparation tools and electronics; and insulated beverageware, including bottles, travel tumblers, drinkware, mugs, food and lunch containers, insulated totes, soft coolers, outdoor kitchenware, and accessories.