Legal & General Group Plc Grows Stock Holdings in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,639,302 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 23,686 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $144,603,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 9.6% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,370,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $982,617,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,991 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 62.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,023,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,800,000 after purchasing an additional 776,997 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,376,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,970,000 after purchasing an additional 636,334 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 84.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,103,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,856,000 after purchasing an additional 506,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc raised its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 199.1% in the 3rd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 637,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,843,000 after purchasing an additional 424,231 shares during the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Principal Financial Group Stock Performance

PFG opened at $103.32 on Friday. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.00 and a 12-month high of $105.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.32 billion, a PE ratio of 14.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $96.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.00.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 16.25%. The company had revenue of $3.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.81 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 45.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on PFG shares. Evercore set a $108.00 price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $96.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Principal Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.10.

Insider Activity at Principal Financial Group

In other news, General Counsel George Djurasovic sold 2,571 shares of Principal Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.83, for a total transaction of $259,233.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 21,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,208,781.98. The trade was a 10.50% 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, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 9,183 shares of Principal Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.26, for a total transaction of $929,870.58. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 77,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,816,056.88. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,317 shares of company stock valued at $2,884,902. Insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Principal Financial Group Company Profile

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ: PFG) is a global financial services company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, that provides a range of retirement, investment and insurance solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. The firm’s business is organized around retirement services, asset management, and insurance products designed to help clients plan, invest for, and protect income over the long term.

Principal’s product and service offerings include retirement plan recordkeeping and administration for employer-sponsored plans, individual and group retirement annuities, life and disability insurance, employee benefits solutions, and wealth management services.