Integrity Alliance LLC. Raises Stock Position in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Integrity Alliance LLC. boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) by 176.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,808 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,904 shares during the quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC.’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $953,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings 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. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 636,334 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 62.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,023,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,800,000 after buying an additional 776,997 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,639,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,603,000 after buying an additional 23,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 worth $90,856,000 after acquiring an additional 506,841 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Principal Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PFG opened at $103.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.78, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.89. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.00 and a 12 month high of $105.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $96.01 and its 200 day moving average is $92.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. The firm 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.81 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PFG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial cut Principal Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $111.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Evercore set a $108.00 price objective on Principal Financial Group in a report on Monday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Principal Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel George Djurasovic sold 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was 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 approximately $2,208,781.98. This represents a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 9,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.26, for a total value of $929,870.58. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 77,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,816,056.88. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In 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.

Principal Financial Group 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.