Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Enphase Energy, Inc. $ENPH

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group boosted its stake in Enphase Energy by 79.2% in Q1, adding 491,488 shares to end with 1,112,067 shares worth about $42.0 million.
• Enphase Energy shares were up 1.2% in Friday trading, opening at $41.57, while the stock has traded between a 52-week low of $25.77 and a high of $73.74.
• The company recently reported better-than-expected earnings, with EPS of $0.47 versus estimates of $0.43 and revenue of $282.9 million, though sales were still down 20.6% from a year earlier.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENPH - Free Report) by 79.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,112,067 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 491,488 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.84% of Enphase Energy worth $42,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ENPH. Monaco Asset Management SAM acquired a new stake in Enphase Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,724,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Enphase Energy by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,329,647 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $523,365,000 after buying an additional 246,876 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Enphase Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $2,193,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Enphase Energy by 319.6% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 72,941 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,338,000 after buying an additional 55,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its stake in Enphase Energy by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 584,898 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $18,746,000 after acquiring an additional 59,500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.12% of the company's stock.

Enphase Energy Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of Enphase Energy stock opened at $41.57 on Friday. Enphase Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.77 and a 1 year high of $73.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 3.20 and a current ratio of 3.80. The company has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.16 and a beta of 1.62. The company's fifty day moving average is $51.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.48.

Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.04. Enphase Energy had a net margin of 9.64% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business had revenue of $282.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $282.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Enphase Energy, Inc. will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Badrinarayanan Kothandaraman acquired 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $67.50 per share, with a total value of $337,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,645,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,080,160. This represents a 0.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Shanker Trivedi purchased 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $53.91 per share, for a total transaction of $53,910.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 1,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,910. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ENPH. Glj Research reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $21.70 price target on shares of Enphase Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Enphase Energy from $41.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Evercore set a $37.00 target price on Enphase Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Enphase Energy from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Enphase Energy from $68.00 to $57.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $47.11.

About Enphase Energy

Enphase Energy is a global energy technology company that specializes in solar microinverters, energy storage systems and energy management software. Its core business centers on converting direct current (DC) power generated by solar panels into alternating current (AC) power suitable for use in residential and commercial applications. By integrating hardware and software solutions, Enphase Energy aims to improve solar energy yield, enhance system reliability and provide real-time monitoring capabilities to its customers.

The company's product portfolio includes its IQ Series microinverters, which attach to individual solar panels to optimize performance at the module level and reduce the impact of shading or system failures.

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