Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica (NYSE:ERJ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica (NYSE:ERJ - Free Report) by 72.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,781 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 127,821 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica were worth $2,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ERJ. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new position in Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $250,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica by 1,057.8% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 212,054 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $9,797,000 after acquiring an additional 193,739 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica during the 1st quarter worth $287,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica by 1,899.3% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 17,254 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $797,000 after acquiring an additional 16,391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica in the first quarter valued at $249,000. 34.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ERJ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wolfe Research reissued a "peer perform" rating on shares of Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica in a research report on Monday, March 24th. HSBC raised shares of Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $45.00 to $57.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "sell" rating and issued a $39.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.40.

Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ERJ traded down $1.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $49.34. The stock had a trading volume of 3,373,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,530,912. Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica has a 52 week low of $26.04 and a 52 week high of $61.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.75.

Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica (NYSE:ERJ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The aerospace company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 16.43%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.48) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.049 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica's payout ratio is 1.85%.

Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica Company Profile

Embraer SA designs, develops, manufactures, and sells aircraft and systems in North America, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Brazil, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Commercial Aviation; Defense & Security; Executive Aviation; Services & Support; and Other segments. The Commercial Aviation segment designs, develops, manufactures, and sells commercial jets, as well as leases aircraft.