Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Cummins Inc. $CMI

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group cut its stake in Cummins by 18.6% in Q4, selling 159,626 shares and finishing the quarter with 698,778 shares (~0.51% ownership) worth about $356.7 million.
• Wall Street sentiment is mostly positive: there are 11 Buy and 6 Hold ratings with an average price target of $600.27, and firms like Barclays and Citigroup recently raised targets to $610 and $710 respectively.
• Company insiders sold a total of 31,195 shares this quarter (about $18.4 million), including large sales by a VP and a director, leaving insider ownership at just 0.30%.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI - Free Report) by 18.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 698,778 shares of the company's stock after selling 159,626 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.51% of Cummins worth $356,692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cummins by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 3,738 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,908,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Financial Consulate Inc. increased its position in shares of Cummins by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 125 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its position in shares of Cummins by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $947,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of Cummins by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 981 shares of the company's stock valued at $501,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Red Door Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cummins by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 878 shares of the company's stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.46% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CMI. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Cummins from $546.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Cummins from $630.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. UBS Group set a $565.00 price objective on shares of Cummins and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Cummins from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating and set a $540.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Cummins in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cummins has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $600.27.

Insider Transactions at Cummins

In other news, VP Amy Rochelle Davis sold 4,054 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.34, for a total value of $2,275,672.36. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 15,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,873,101.38. This represents a 20.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William I. Miller sold 18,107 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $597.10, for a total transaction of $10,811,689.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 34,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,446,495.30. This represents a 34.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,195 shares of company stock valued at $18,397,489. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cummins Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE CMI opened at $657.75 on Tuesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $581.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $537.79. The company has a market cap of $90.88 billion, a PE ratio of 32.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.27. Cummins Inc. has a 52-week low of $290.73 and a 52-week high of $674.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.76.

Cummins (NYSE:CMI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $5.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $8.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.09 billion. Cummins had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 25.71%. The business's revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cummins Inc. will post 26.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cummins Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a $2.00 dividend. This represents a $8.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. Cummins's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.99%.

Cummins Profile

Cummins Inc NYSE: CMI is a global power technology company that designs, manufactures, distributes and services a broad portfolio of diesel and natural gas engines, electrified powertrains, power generation systems and related components. Founded in 1919 and headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, Cummins has grown into one of the world's leading suppliers of internal combustion engines and a provider of technologies that reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency.

The company's product lineup includes heavy-, medium- and light-duty engines for on-highway and off-highway applications, generator sets and power systems for commercial and industrial use, and key engine components such as turbochargers, fuel systems, air handling, filtration and aftertreatment solutions.

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