Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Decreases Stock Position in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund decreased its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) by 7.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,238 shares of the company’s stock after selling 576 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Principal Financial Group by 163.5% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 17,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,377,000 after purchasing an additional 10,859 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,168,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 51.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in Principal Financial Group by 27.6% during the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

PFG traded down $2.89 on Friday, reaching $81.53. 1,833,411 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,204,883. The stock has a market cap of $19.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $81.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.09. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $66.21 and a twelve month high of $88.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by ($0.24). Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 14.95% and a net margin of 8.05%. The company had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 7.41 EPS for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is 54.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PFG. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on Principal Financial Group from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Raymond James raised shares of Principal Financial Group from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Principal Financial Group from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Principal Financial Group from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.42.

About Principal Financial Group

Principal Financial Group, Inc provides retirement, asset management, and insurance products and services to businesses, individuals, and institutional clients worldwide. The company operates through Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal Asset Management, and Benefits and Protection segments. The Retirement and Income Solutions segment provides retirement, and related financial products and services.