Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) Hits New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on the stock from $102.00 to $112.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Principal Financial Group traded as high as $114.06 and last traded at $113.4070, with a volume of 45444 shares. The stock had previously closed at $112.23.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on PFG. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Principal Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (down from $98.00) on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup lowered Principal Financial Group from a “sell” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Principal Financial Group from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Principal Financial Group news, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 9,183 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $7,816,056.88. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel George Djurasovic sold 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.83, for a total transaction of $259,233.93. Following the completion of the sale, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 28,317 shares of company stock worth $2,884,902 over the last quarter. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $273,276,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 112.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,348,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,138,000 after purchasing an additional 1,244,668 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in 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 period. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in 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 period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Principal Financial Group by 23.2% during the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Principal Financial Group Trading Up 1.3%

The stock has a market cap of $24.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.81 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.92%.

About Principal Financial Group

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.