North Star Asset Management Inc. Sells 6,375 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

North Star Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 388,746 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,375 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group makes up approximately 1.4% of North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $34,291,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 9.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,370,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $982,617,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,991 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 23.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,376,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $279,970,000 after purchasing an additional 636,334 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 62.3% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,023,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,800,000 after purchasing an additional 776,997 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,615,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,951,000 after purchasing an additional 33,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 84.9% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,103,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,856,000 after purchasing an additional 506,841 shares during the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Principal Financial Group

In other Principal Financial Group news, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 7,534 shares of Principal Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $777,207.44. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 66,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,854,259.88. The trade was a 10.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the general counsel owned 21,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,208,781.98. The trade was a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,317 shares of company stock worth $2,884,902. Insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PFG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore set a $108.00 target price on Principal Financial Group in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $92.00 target price on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Barclays raised their target price on Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Bank of America cut their target price on Principal Financial Group from $96.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Principal Financial Group from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.10.

Principal Financial Group Stock Performance

Principal Financial Group stock opened at $103.85 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $22.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.86, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.89. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.00 and a fifty-two week high of $104.68.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.11 billion. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 16.25% and a net margin of 10.10%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.81 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

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

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.