Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Acquires 4,965 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its holdings in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,906 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,965 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $9,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 3,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Argent Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 29,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,272,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 32.3% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 684 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $836,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (up from $71.00) on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Principal Financial Group from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Principal Financial Group from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Principal Financial Group from $93.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.30.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Principal Financial Group stock opened at $81.05 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.91. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.39 and a 52 week high of $91.97. The company has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.13, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.02). Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.