Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Holdings in Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 127,831 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 729 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Five Below were worth $13,417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Five Below by 41.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 614,288 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $54,272,000 after purchasing an additional 180,902 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Five Below by 155.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 78,827 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,964,000 after purchasing an additional 47,940 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in Five Below during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,282,000. Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in Five Below by 364.2% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 25,830 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,282,000 after purchasing an additional 20,266 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Five Below by 72.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 21,815 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,927,000 after purchasing an additional 9,188 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FIVE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp downgraded Five Below from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Five Below from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Five Below from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Five Below in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Five Below from $106.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Five Below presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.32.

Five Below Trading Down 0.6 %

FIVE stock opened at $89.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.91 billion, a PE ratio of 18.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13. Five Below, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.87 and a 12-month high of $212.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $96.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.37.

Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The specialty retailer reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $843.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $801.48 million. Five Below had a return on equity of 18.03% and a net margin of 7.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Five Below, Inc. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Five Below

In related news, CAO Eric M. Specter sold 5,494 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.76, for a total value of $498,635.44. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 57,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,197,552.92. This represents a 8.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Five Below

Five Below, Inc operates as a specialty value retailer in the United States. The company offers range of accessories, which includes novelty socks, sunglasses, jewelry, scarves, gloves, hair accessories, athletic tops and bottoms, and t-shirts, as well as nail polish, lip gloss, fragrance, and branded cosmetics; and personalized living space products, such as lamps, posters, frames, fleece blankets, plush items, pillows, candles, incense, lighting, novelty décor, accent furniture, and related items, as well as provides storage options.