Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 137,623 Shares of QuinStreet, Inc. $QNST

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of QuinStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:QNST) by 50.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 408,930 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 137,623 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.72% of QuinStreet worth $4,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in QuinStreet by 39.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 284,833 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,093,000 after buying an additional 80,862 shares during the last quarter. OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in QuinStreet during the 1st quarter worth $1,779,000. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in QuinStreet by 59.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 260,318 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after acquiring an additional 97,226 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of QuinStreet in the 4th quarter worth $617,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of QuinStreet by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,257,710 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,183,000 after acquiring an additional 133,468 shares in the last quarter. 97.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

QuinStreet Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of QuinStreet stock opened at $15.94 on Wednesday. QuinStreet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.28 and a 1 year high of $18.02. The firm has a market cap of $915.59 million, a PE ratio of 13.98 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $14.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

QuinStreet (NASDAQ:QNST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $346.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.22 million. QuinStreet had a net margin of 5.53% and a return on equity of 9.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that QuinStreet, Inc. will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on QNST. Zacks Research lowered shares of QuinStreet from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of QuinStreet from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of QuinStreet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of QuinStreet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, QuinStreet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other QuinStreet news, CFO Gregory Wong sold 10,338 shares of QuinStreet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total value of $155,070.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 390,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,855,160. The trade was a 2.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

QuinStreet Profile

QuinStreet, Inc operates a technology-based performance marketing platform that connects companies with prospective customers across multiple verticals. The company specializes in data-driven lead generation for financial services, education, insurance, healthcare, and home services firms. By leveraging proprietary targeting algorithms and real-time analytics, QuinStreet manages customized digital marketing campaigns to optimize customer acquisition and retention for its clients.

Through a portfolio of consumer-facing websites and comparison platforms, QuinStreet delivers targeted visitors who are actively researching products and services.