Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Wayfair Inc. (NYSE:W)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Wayfair Inc. (NYSE:W) by 10.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,122 shares of the company’s stock after selling 743 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Wayfair were worth $344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Highland Peak Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wayfair during the second quarter valued at about $5,165,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Wayfair by 32.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 133,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,035,000 after buying an additional 32,968 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp purchased a new position in shares of Wayfair during the second quarter valued at about $8,189,000. Caxton Associates LP purchased a new stake in Wayfair in the first quarter worth about $1,164,000. Finally, Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Wayfair in the second quarter worth about $686,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on W shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Wayfair from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Wayfair in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Wayfair from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Wayfair from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Wayfair in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.28.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wayfair

In other news, COO Thomas Netzer sold 1,011 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.42, for a total value of $49,963.62. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 151,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,502,054.84. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kate Gulliver sold 7,330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.05, for a total transaction of $388,856.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 117,947 shares in the company, valued at $6,257,088.35. This trade represents a 5.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,868 shares of company stock valued at $3,272,548 in the last three months. 26.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wayfair Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of W stock opened at $44.03 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $47.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.72. Wayfair Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.35 and a 52 week high of $76.18. The company has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.81 and a beta of 3.46.

Wayfair (NYSE:W) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.38) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Wayfair Inc. will post -2.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Wayfair

Wayfair Inc provides e-commerce business in the United States and internationally. The company offers approximately thirty million products for the home sector. It offers online selections of furniture, décor, housewares, and home improvement products through its sites consisting of Wayfair, Joss & Main, AllModern, Birch Lane, Perigold, and Wayfair Professional.