Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 39,641 Shares of Reddit Inc. $RDDT

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its Reddit stake by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 39,641 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 240,488 shares worth about $55.3 million.
• Reddit’s recent earnings topped expectations, with Q1 EPS of $1.01 versus $0.62 expected and revenue of $663.4 million, up 69.1% year over year.
• Analysts remain constructive but mixed on RDDT: the consensus rating is “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $228.61, while recent target updates ranged from $176 to $300.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Reddit Inc. (NYSE:RDDT - Free Report) by 19.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 240,488 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 39,641 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Reddit worth $55,281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of RDDT. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Reddit by 143.3% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,982 shares of the company's stock valued at $837,000 after acquiring an additional 4,701 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Reddit in the 1st quarter worth approximately $213,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Reddit by 106.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 216,960 shares of the company's stock worth $22,759,000 after acquiring an additional 111,780 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of Reddit by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 10,224 shares of the company's stock worth $1,073,000 after acquiring an additional 2,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Reddit by 344.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 369 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Steve Ladd Huffman sold 18,000 shares of Reddit stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.12, for a total transaction of $2,612,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 411,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,672,618.40. The trade was a 4.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jennifer L. Wong sold 39,167 shares of Reddit stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.47, for a total value of $6,324,295.49. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,088,451 shares in the company, valued at $175,752,182.97. This trade represents a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 61,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,870,815 and have sold 298,441 shares valued at $43,966,159. Corporate insiders own 34.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on RDDT shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Reddit from $149.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Reddit from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price objective on Reddit in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Reddit in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Argus set a $300.00 price objective on Reddit in a research report on Friday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $228.61.

Reddit Price Performance

RDDT stock opened at $155.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $29.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.85. Reddit Inc. has a 1 year low of $94.89 and a 1 year high of $282.95. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $145.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.43.

Reddit (NYSE:RDDT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $663.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $607.74 million. Reddit had a return on equity of 25.48% and a net margin of 28.60%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 69.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Reddit Inc. will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current year.

About Reddit

Reddit is an online social news aggregation, discussion and content-sharing platform organized around user-created communities called "subreddits," each focused on a particular topic or interest. Registered users submit links, text posts, images and video, and community members vote and comment to surface popular content. The site is accessed via its web platform and mobile apps for iOS and Android, and it supports live events such as Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions and community-driven discussions.

Founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, Reddit is headquartered in San Francisco and serves a global audience with particularly large user bases in the United States and other English-speaking markets.

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