Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $39.99 Million Stock Position in Edison International (NYSE:EIX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Edison International (NYSE:EIX) by 6.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 459,194 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,667 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Edison International worth $39,991,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EIX. State Street Corp boosted its position in Edison International by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,549,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,834,774,000 after purchasing an additional 224,337 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Edison International by 8.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,800,874 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,898,638,000 after acquiring an additional 1,741,835 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Edison International by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,620,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $835,142,000 after purchasing an additional 210,461 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Edison International by 0.5% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,015,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $360,198,000 after buying an additional 24,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Edison International by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,864,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,503,000 after purchasing an additional 67,089 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EIX. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Edison International from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Edison International in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America began coverage on Edison International in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Edison International from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Edison International from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.58.

Edison International Price Performance

EIX stock opened at $79.72 on Tuesday. Edison International has a 52-week low of $63.15 and a 52-week high of $88.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $30.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.34.

Edison International (NYSE:EIX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.01 billion. Edison International had a net margin of 8.52% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Research analysts expect that Edison International will post 4.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Edison International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a dividend of $0.8275 per share. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.15%. This is an increase from Edison International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 7th. Edison International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Adam S. Umanoff sold 25,619 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.05, for a total transaction of $2,127,657.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Edison International

Edison International, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation and distribution of electric power. The company supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 50,000 square mile area of southern California to residential, commercial, industrial, public authorities, agricultural, and other sectors.