Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Domino's Pizza Inc $DPZ

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group trimmed its stake in Domino's by 3.2% in Q4, selling 56,383 shares and now holds 1,706,185 shares (about 5.05% of the company) valued at roughly $711.2 million.
• Several brokers recently cut price targets on DPZ and, while 17 analysts rate it Buy (with 12 Hold and 2 Sell), MarketBeat's consensus rating is "Hold" with an average target of $421.35.
• Domino's missed quarterly EPS ($4.13 vs. $4.29 expected) on $1.15 billion revenue (up 3.5% YoY) and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.99 ($7.96 annual, ~2.4% yield).

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Domino's Pizza Inc (NASDAQ:DPZ - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,706,185 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 56,383 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 5.05% of Domino's Pizza worth $711,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DPZ. Huntleigh Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Domino's Pizza by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Huntleigh Advisors Inc. now owns 530 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Domino's Pizza by 2.8% during the third quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 955 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $412,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Domino's Pizza by 1.1% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 2,382 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,028,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Domino's Pizza by 2.9% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 965 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Domino's Pizza by 1.2% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,317 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.63% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DPZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their target price on Domino's Pizza from $470.00 to $420.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Domino's Pizza from $421.00 to $359.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Gordon Haskett lowered their price target on Domino's Pizza from $440.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Benchmark reduced their price objective on Domino's Pizza from $465.00 to $430.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Northcoast Research decreased their target price on Domino's Pizza from $525.00 to $445.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $421.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kelly E. Garcia sold 488 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.31, for a total value of $162,167.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,107,763.12. The trade was a 4.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Domino's Pizza Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of Domino's Pizza stock opened at $330.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.02. Domino's Pizza Inc has a 12 month low of $326.54 and a 12 month high of $499.08. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $377.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $398.81.

Domino's Pizza (NASDAQ:DPZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The restaurant operator reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.29 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter. Domino's Pizza had a net margin of 11.89% and a negative return on equity of 15.04%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.33 EPS. Analysts forecast that Domino's Pizza Inc will post 19.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Domino's Pizza Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $1.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $7.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Domino's Pizza's payout ratio is 45.83%.

Domino's Pizza Profile

Domino's Pizza, Inc NASDAQ: DPZ is a global pizza delivery and carryout chain founded in 1960 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company specializes in a broad range of hand‐crafted pizzas, including hand-tossed, thin crust and specialty offerings, alongside side items such as chicken wings, sandwiches, pasta, desserts and beverages. Domino's has built its brand on convenience and speed, leveraging proprietary ordering platforms and its Domino's Tracker system to provide real-time status updates from order placement through delivery.

Operating predominantly under a franchise model, Domino's has more than 17,000 stores worldwide, with approximately 95% of outlets owned and operated by independent franchisees.

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