Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys New Stake in Gold.com Inc. $GOLD

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group acquired 29,895 Gold.com shares worth approximately $1.2 million, while institutional investors collectively owned 62.85% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with four Buy ratings and two Holds producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $59.75 price target.
• Gold.com reported quarterly earnings of $3.06 per share, well above the $1.44 consensus estimate, and recently approved a share repurchase program and a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share.

Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Gold.com Inc. (NYSE:GOLD - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 29,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,198,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Gold.com at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new stake in Gold.com during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,273,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Gold.com in the fourth quarter worth about $32,408,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Gold.com during the 4th quarter worth about $17,971,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gold.com during the 4th quarter worth about $15,790,000. Finally, State Street Corp acquired a new position in shares of Gold.com during the 4th quarter worth about $15,019,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Tether Global Investments Fund acquired 58,536 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $43.11 per share, for a total transaction of $2,523,486.96. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 200,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,622,000. The trade was a 41.38% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gregory N. Roberts sold 40,000 shares of Gold.com stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.58, for a total value of $1,663,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 28,202 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,172,639.16. The trade was a 58.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders acquired 730,338 shares of company stock worth $31,842,096 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOLD. Zacks Research lowered Gold.com from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on Gold.com in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Roth Capital set a $52.00 price objective on Gold.com in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gold.com from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Gold.com in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $59.75.

Gold.com Stock Down 1.7%

NYSE GOLD opened at $41.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock's 50 day moving average is $41.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.50. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16 and a beta of 0.55. Gold.com Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.55 and a 1-year high of $66.70.

Gold.com (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $1.62. Gold.com had a return on equity of 17.82% and a net margin of 0.35%.The company had revenue of $10.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.81 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Gold.com Inc. will post 5.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gold.com declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to buyback 2,000,000,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Gold.com Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. Gold.com's dividend payout ratio is 27.40%.

About Gold.com

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a precious metals trading company. It operates in three segments: Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services, Direct-to-Consumer, and Secured Lending. The Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services segment sells gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in the form of bars, plates, powders, wafers, grains, ingots, and coins. This segment also offers various ancillary services, including financing, storage, consignment, logistics, and various customized financial programs; and designs and produces minted silver products.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.