Principal Financial Group Inc. Invests $2.21 Million in Tecnoglass Inc. (NASDAQ:TGLS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Tecnoglass Inc. (NASDAQ:TGLS) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 32,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,211,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tecnoglass during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $585,000. Rhumbline Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Tecnoglass in the second quarter valued at $1,468,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Tecnoglass by 32.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 35,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,429,000 after buying an additional 8,613 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Tecnoglass in the second quarter valued at $589,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Tecnoglass by 262.4% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 20,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 14,545 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 37.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com began coverage on Tecnoglass in a report on Saturday, December 14th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $72.00 price objective (up from $69.00) on shares of Tecnoglass in a report on Thursday, October 10th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Tecnoglass from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Sidoti downgraded shares of Tecnoglass from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Tecnoglass from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tecnoglass currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.40.

Insider Transactions at Tecnoglass

In other Tecnoglass news, Director Julio A. Torres sold 30,520 shares of Tecnoglass stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $2,222,771.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holding Corp Energy sold 1,432,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.02, for a total value of $104,573,402.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 23,195,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,693,771,043.76. This represents a 5.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Tecnoglass Trading Down 3.1 %

NASDAQ:TGLS opened at $76.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.89 and a beta of 1.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $77.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.95. Tecnoglass Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.94 and a fifty-two week high of $86.08.

Tecnoglass (NASDAQ:TGLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $237.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.19 million. Tecnoglass had a return on equity of 27.71% and a net margin of 17.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Tecnoglass Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Tecnoglass Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is a boost from Tecnoglass’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Tecnoglass’s dividend payout ratio is 18.75%.

Tecnoglass Company Profile

Tecnoglass Inc manufactures, supplies, and installs architectural glass, windows, and associated aluminum and vinyl products for commercial and residential construction markets in Colombia, the United States, Panama, and internationally. The company provides low emissivity, laminated/thermo-laminated, thermo-acoustic, tempered, silk-screened, curved, and digital print glass products.