Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Holdings in IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 730,470 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,646 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in IDEXX Laboratories were worth $369,049,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of IDXX. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in shares of IDEXX Laboratories by 16.7% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 672 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of IDEXX Laboratories in the second quarter worth about $20,418,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of IDEXX Laboratories by 13.8% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,825,000 after buying an additional 1,453 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in IDEXX Laboratories by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,476,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,576,476,000 after acquiring an additional 98,387 shares during the period. Finally, EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. raised its position in IDEXX Laboratories by 45.3% during the second quarter. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. now owns 12,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,201,000 after acquiring an additional 3,966 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on IDXX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on IDEXX Laboratories from $630.00 to $575.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $435.00 price target (down from $520.00) on shares of IDEXX Laboratories in a report on Monday. StockNews.com cut shares of IDEXX Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of IDEXX Laboratories from $570.00 to $481.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on IDEXX Laboratories from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $552.38.

IDEXX Laboratories Stock Performance

IDXX opened at $423.42 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $474.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $485.88. IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. has a 52-week low of $404.74 and a 52-week high of $583.39. The company has a market cap of $34.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.83, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

IDEXX Laboratories (NASDAQ:IDXX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.69 by $0.11. IDEXX Laboratories had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 55.42%. The business had revenue of $975.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $980.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEXX Laboratories Company Profile

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc develops, manufactures, and distributes products primarily for the companion animal veterinary, livestock and poultry, dairy, and water testing markets in Africa, the Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Companion Animal Group; Water Quality Products; and Livestock, Poultry and Dairy.