Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 137,549 Shares of Hostess Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWNK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Hostess Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWNK – Get Rating) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,053,236 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 137,549 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Hostess Brands were worth $23,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Hostess Brands by 103.5% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 24,077,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,266,000 after purchasing an additional 12,247,765 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Hostess Brands by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,997,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,790,000 after purchasing an additional 96,984 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Hostess Brands by 2.6% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,037,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,046,000 after purchasing an additional 229,103 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Hostess Brands by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,004,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,147,000 after purchasing an additional 55,673 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Hostess Brands by 9.0% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,887,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,446,000 after acquiring an additional 320,776 shares during the last quarter.

Hostess Brands Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TWNK opened at $25.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.21 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $25.24 and its 200-day moving average is $24.55. Hostess Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.00 and a 1-year high of $29.00.

Hostess Brands (NASDAQ:TWNK – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 9th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $345.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $338.44 million. Hostess Brands had a return on equity of 7.52% and a net margin of 12.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hostess Brands, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TWNK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Hostess Brands in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group initiated coverage on Hostess Brands in a research report on Sunday, March 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Credit Suisse Group decreased their target price on Hostess Brands from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Hostess Brands from $30.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Hostess Brands from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hostess Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.83.

Hostess Brands Company Profile

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Hostess Brands, Inc engages in developing, manufacturing, marketing, selling, and distributing baked goods. It operates through the Snacking segment, which consists of sweet baked goods, cookies, bread and buns, and frozen retail products that are sold under the Hostess, Dolly Madison, Cloverhill, Big Texas, and Voortman brands.