Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Spotify Technology $SPOT

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its Spotify stake by 53.4% in the first quarter, buying 344,471 additional shares and ending with 989,667 shares valued at about $479.9 million.
• Spotify insiders have been selling shares recently, including Director Christopher P. Marshall and CEO Alex Norstrom, with total insider sales of 111,442 shares worth about $54.8 million over the last three months.
• Spotify reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.04 beating estimates and revenue of $5.25 billion, while analysts currently rate the stock a “Moderate Buy” with a consensus target price of $638.58.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT - Free Report) by 53.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 989,667 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 344,471 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.48% of Spotify Technology worth $479,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SPOT. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new position in shares of Spotify Technology during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Spotify Technology in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Spotify Technology in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Spotify Technology in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Osbon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Spotify Technology in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 84.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Christopher P. Marshall sold 2,650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.86, for a total transaction of $1,377,629.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,039 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,099,714.54. This represents a 39.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Alex Norstrom sold 5,436 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.86, for a total transaction of $2,613,954.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 67,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,497,480.52. This trade represents a 7.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 111,442 shares of company stock valued at $54,757,553 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Spotify Technology Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE SPOT opened at $480.14 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $471.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $494.04. The firm has a market cap of $98.85 billion, a PE ratio of 38.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.56. Spotify Technology has a twelve month low of $405.00 and a twelve month high of $748.30.

Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $4.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.63. Spotify Technology had a return on equity of 35.73% and a net margin of 15.56%.The business had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Spotify Technology will post 14.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SPOT. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Spotify Technology from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Daiwa Securities Group began coverage on Spotify Technology in a report on Thursday, March 26th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $535.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Spotify Technology from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Spotify Technology from $670.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Spotify Technology from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Spotify Technology currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $638.58.

Spotify Technology Company Profile

Spotify Technology is a digital audio streaming company best known for its on-demand music service and a growing portfolio of spoken-word content. Founded in Sweden in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon and launched commercially in 2008, the company offers a cross-platform app that enables users to discover, stream and organize music, podcasts and other audio. Its primary consumer products include a free, ad-supported tier and a paid Spotify Premium subscription that provides ad-free listening, offline playback and higher-quality audio streams.

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