Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 240,846 Shares of PagSeguro Digital Ltd. $PAGS

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE:PAGS) by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 788,922 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 240,846 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in PagSeguro Digital were worth $7,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of PagSeguro Digital by 29.9% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 150,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,152,000 after buying an additional 34,787 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in PagSeguro Digital by 78.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,786 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in PagSeguro Digital in the second quarter valued at $220,000. Financial Perspectives Inc raised its position in PagSeguro Digital by 9.1% during the second quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 23,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Investment Counsel lifted its stake in PagSeguro Digital by 3.2% during the second quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 255,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,464,000 after purchasing an additional 7,856 shares during the last quarter. 45.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PagSeguro Digital Price Performance

Shares of PagSeguro Digital stock opened at $10.55 on Friday. PagSeguro Digital Ltd. has a one year low of $6.70 and a one year high of $12.32. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.40.

PagSeguro Digital (NYSE:PAGS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. PagSeguro Digital had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 11.00%.The firm had revenue of $937.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $971.30 million. Sell-side analysts expect that PagSeguro Digital Ltd. will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PagSeguro Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 28th. PagSeguro Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAGS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Susquehanna increased their price objective on PagSeguro Digital from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PagSeguro Digital in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of PagSeguro Digital from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PagSeguro Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.86.

About PagSeguro Digital

PagSeguro Digital Ltd. is a Brazil-based financial technology company that specializes in digital payment solutions for merchants and consumers. Through its online platform and a suite of physical point-of-sale devices, the company enables businesses of all sizes to accept credit and debit cards, process e-commerce transactions, and manage payments via QR codes and digital wallets. In addition to payment acceptance, PagSeguro offers prepaid accounts, funds transfers, and working-capital credit lines designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises.

The company’s product portfolio includes portable card readers, countertop terminals, and mobile point-of-sale devices that connect via Bluetooth or cellular networks.