Invst LLC Invests $1.85 Million in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Invst LLC purchased a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 17,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,849,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $32,473,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,157,181,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc grew its stake in Principal Financial Group by 1,219.5% during the 4th quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 51,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,516,000 after acquiring an additional 47,316 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI acquired a new stake in Principal Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,277,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,639,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,603,000 after acquiring an additional 23,686 shares during the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PFG shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on Principal Financial Group from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $121.00 price target on shares of Principal Financial Group in a report on Monday, August 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Principal Financial Group from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Principal Financial Group from $113.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.67.

Principal Financial Group Stock Performance

Principal Financial Group stock opened at $111.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.74. The stock has a market cap of $23.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.28 and a quick ratio of 0.28. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.90 and a 1-year high of $116.61.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.17. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.93% and a return on equity of 16.49%. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.16 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.62 EPS for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be given a $0.84 dividend. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.59%.

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.