Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stake in Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated $JLL

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group reduced its stake in Jones Lang LaSalle by 15.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 21,444 shares and ending with 113,119 shares worth about $38.1 million.
• Insider selling also showed up in recent filings, with Director Deborah H. Mcaneny and CEO Richard Bloxam both trimming their JLL holdings in March.
• JLL reported strong quarterly results, posting $3.43 EPS on $6.39 billion in revenue, both ahead of analyst expectations, while Wall Street currently rates the stock a Moderate Buy with a $365.33 average price target.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL - Free Report) by 15.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,119 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 21,444 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Jones Lang LaSalle worth $38,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in Jones Lang LaSalle by 184,969.0% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 3,864,241 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,300,201,000 after acquiring an additional 3,862,153 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Jones Lang LaSalle by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 598,980 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $178,664,000 after acquiring an additional 29,560 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY raised its holdings in Jones Lang LaSalle by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 564,097 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $168,259,000 after acquiring an additional 45,733 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in Jones Lang LaSalle by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 402,173 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $135,319,000 after acquiring an additional 31,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Jones Lang LaSalle by 4,285.3% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 350,821 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $104,643,000 after acquiring an additional 342,821 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Jones Lang LaSalle news, Director Deborah H. Mcaneny sold 2,500 shares of Jones Lang LaSalle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.50, for a total value of $751,250.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 14,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,502,992.50. The trade was a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard Bloxam sold 5,440 shares of Jones Lang LaSalle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.94, for a total transaction of $1,615,353.60. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on JLL shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Jones Lang LaSalle from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Jones Lang LaSalle from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Jones Lang LaSalle from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Jones Lang LaSalle from $405.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Jones Lang LaSalle from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, January 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $365.33.

Jones Lang LaSalle Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE JLL opened at $330.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated has a 12-month low of $211.86 and a 12-month high of $363.06. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $315.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $322.46.

Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.01 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $6.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. Jones Lang LaSalle had a net margin of 3.35% and a return on equity of 13.01%. The company's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated will post 22.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jones Lang LaSalle Profile

Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated NYSE: JLL is a leading professional services firm specializing in real estate and investment management. The company provides a broad range of services including leasing, advisory, property and asset management, capital markets, project and development services, and valuation. Through its integrated platform, JLL serves corporate occupiers, institutional investors, real estate owners and developers, offering tailored solutions that span the entire real estate lifecycle.

Founded in 1783 in London as Jones Lang Wootton, the firm established a reputation for expertise in property management and brokerage.

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