Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Keysight Technologies Inc. $KEYS

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Keysight Technologies Inc. (NYSE:KEYS) by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 199,838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 36,736 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Keysight Technologies worth $34,956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Keysight Technologies in the second quarter worth $316,690,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Keysight Technologies by 2,290.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,421,437 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $246,051,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,969 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc boosted its holdings in Keysight Technologies by 164.3% during the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 1,010,399 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $165,564,000 after acquiring an additional 628,082 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Keysight Technologies by 2,004.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 572,836 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $93,865,000 after acquiring an additional 545,620 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners increased its stake in Keysight Technologies by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,709,540 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $771,359,000 after purchasing an additional 446,123 shares during the period. 84.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 price objective on Keysight Technologies in a research note on Monday. Citigroup upped their price target on Keysight Technologies from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Keysight Technologies from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Keysight Technologies from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $243.00 price objective on shares of Keysight Technologies in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.64.

Keysight Technologies Price Performance

Shares of KEYS opened at $221.67 on Friday. Keysight Technologies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.43 and a fifty-two week high of $232.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $210.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.40. The stock has a market cap of $38.02 billion, a PE ratio of 45.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 24th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.08. Keysight Technologies had a return on equity of 19.30% and a net margin of 15.71%.The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Keysight Technologies has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.950-2.010 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Keysight Technologies Inc. will post 6.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Keysight Technologies declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, November 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the scientific and technical instruments company to buy up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jeffrey K. Li sold 3,934 shares of Keysight Technologies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.84, for a total value of $790,104.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 36,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,370,627.16. The trade was a 9.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ronald S. Nersesian sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.88, for a total transaction of $5,906,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 198,389 shares in the company, valued at $39,058,826.32. This trade represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 78,784 shares of company stock valued at $15,841,737. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Keysight Technologies Profile

Keysight Technologies is a global provider of electronic design, test, measurement and optimization solutions for communications, electronics and related industries. The company was formed as a corporate spin-off from Agilent Technologies in 2014; its origins trace back to the electronic measurement business that was part of Hewlett?Packard before Agilent. Keysight develops hardware and software used throughout the product development lifecycle, from design and simulation to prototype validation and manufacturing test.

Keysight’s product portfolio includes electronic test and measurement instruments such as oscilloscopes, network and spectrum analyzers, signal generators, vector network analyzers and modular PXI-based systems, together with software platforms for simulation, automated test and data analysis.