Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) Price Target Raised to $77.00

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) had its target price hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $75.00 to $77.00 in a research report report published on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $86.90.

Principal Financial Group Trading Up 0.2%

PFG stock opened at $78.72 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $78.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.48. Principal Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $68.39 and a fifty-two week high of $91.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $17.54 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.00.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.19. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Principal Financial Group will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 62.78%.

Institutional Trading of Principal Financial Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tompkins Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group during the first quarter valued at $55,000. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group during the first quarter valued at $281,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group during the first quarter valued at $943,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 2.6% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 526,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,433,000 after acquiring an additional 13,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 802.2% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,707,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $312,805,000 after acquiring an additional 3,296,608 shares in the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.