Legal & General Group Plc Reduces Stake in Genworth Financial, Inc. $GNW

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE:GNW) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,050,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 82,793 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.26% of Genworth Financial worth $9,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Genworth Financial by 1.0% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,493,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $235,793,000 after purchasing an additional 270,062 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Genworth Financial by 7.9% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 9,567,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $85,151,000 after acquiring an additional 704,498 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Genworth Financial by 41.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,291,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,248,374 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Genworth Financial by 621.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,598,588 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,495,000 after acquiring an additional 3,099,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Genworth Financial by 4.0% during the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 1,835,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,282,000 after acquiring an additional 70,157 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.85% of the company’s stock.

Genworth Financial Stock Performance

Shares of GNW stock opened at $8.48 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day moving average is $8.76 and its 200 day moving average is $8.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Genworth Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.72 and a 52-week high of $9.45.

Genworth Financial (NYSE:GNW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Genworth Financial had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 1.73%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Genworth Financial, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.12, for a total transaction of $456,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 92,655 shares in the company, valued at $845,013.60. The trade was a 35.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Thomas J. Mcinerney sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.27, for a total transaction of $927,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,368,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,769,545.41. This trade represents a 1.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GNW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Genworth Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. Zacks Research raised shares of Genworth Financial to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Genworth Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Genworth Financial from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.00.

Genworth Financial Profile

Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) is a leading financial security company offering a broad range of insurance products. Based in Richmond, Virginia, Genworth provides individuals and families with solutions designed to protect against long-term care expenses, secure life insurance needs and support homeownership through private mortgage insurance. With operations spanning the United States, Canada and Australia, the company serves both retail and institutional clients through a diversified portfolio of risk management services.

The company’s Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) segment offers coverage to lenders and consumers in the US, Canada and Australia, enabling homebuyers to purchase properties with lower down payments.