Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $99.96 Million Holdings in Howmet Aerospace Inc. $HWM

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its stake to 487,580 shares (adding 11,623 shares in Q4), valuing its holding at about $99.96 million, roughly 0.12% of Howmet Aerospace.
• Institutional investors own about 90.46% of HWM, led by Vanguard (49.14M shares) and State Street (17.96M), and analysts rate the stock a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $266.89 and several recent target upgrades.
• Q4 earnings beat expectations (EPS $1.05 vs. $0.97) with revenue up 14.6% y/y; Howmet issued FY2026 guidance of $4.35–$4.55 EPS and announced a $0.12 quarterly dividend (≈0.2% yield).

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Howmet Aerospace Inc. (NYSE:HWM - Free Report) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 487,580 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,623 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Howmet Aerospace worth $99,964,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Howmet Aerospace by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,139,989 shares of the company's stock worth $9,642,740,000 after purchasing an additional 664,595 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Howmet Aerospace by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,964,662 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,525,206,000 after buying an additional 278,587 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Howmet Aerospace by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 10,877,771 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,134,545,000 after buying an additional 255,419 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Howmet Aerospace by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,367,438 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,445,712,000 after buying an additional 801,093 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Howmet Aerospace by 4.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,595,587 shares of the company's stock worth $705,565,000 after acquiring an additional 147,523 shares during the last quarter. 90.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HWM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Howmet Aerospace from $227.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Howmet Aerospace in a report on Sunday, February 15th. Wolfe Research set a $270.00 target price on shares of Howmet Aerospace and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $280.00 target price on shares of Howmet Aerospace in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Howmet Aerospace in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $240.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $266.89.

Howmet Aerospace Stock Up 5.9%

Shares of Howmet Aerospace stock opened at $257.10 on Thursday. Howmet Aerospace Inc. has a 12 month low of $154.31 and a 12 month high of $267.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $245.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $222.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $103.02 billion, a PE ratio of 69.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.19.

Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.08. Howmet Aerospace had a net margin of 18.27% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. Howmet Aerospace's revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. Howmet Aerospace has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.090-1.110 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 4.350-4.550 EPS. Research analysts predict that Howmet Aerospace Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Howmet Aerospace Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Howmet Aerospace's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Neil Edward Marchuk sold 45,150 shares of Howmet Aerospace stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.70, for a total transaction of $11,364,255.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 107,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,933,913.60. This trade represents a 29.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Barbara Lou Shultz sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $260,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 23,874 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,207,240. This represents a 4.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company's stock.

Howmet Aerospace Company Profile

Howmet Aerospace Inc is an industrial technology company that designs, manufactures and repairs engineered metal products for the aerospace, transportation and industrial markets. Its product portfolio includes precision castings and forgings, engineered fasteners, seamless rolled rings, and complex components for turbine engines, airframes and industrial gas turbines. The company also provides aftermarket services such as component repair, overhaul and parts distribution to support the operating fleet of commercial and military customers.

Howmet serves a global customer base of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and aftermarket operators, with manufacturing, service and distribution facilities across North America, Europe and Asia.

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