Wealthfront Advisers LLC Sells 9,414 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Wealthfront Advisers LLC cut its stake in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) by 14.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,185 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,414 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $4,575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFG. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 0.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,345,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,172,018,000 after acquiring an additional 97,149 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 9.6% during the 2nd 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. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $227,098,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,740,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,675,000 after buying an additional 139,953 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 57.6% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,791,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,213,000 after buying an additional 654,408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Principal Financial Group Trading Down 2.5%

Principal Financial Group stock opened at $90.51 on Friday. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a one year low of $68.39 and a one year high of $97.88. The stock has a market cap of $20.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.89. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $91.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.57.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.03). Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. Principal Financial Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.010-9.260 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 8.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This is a boost from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.72%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Deanna D. Strable-Soethout sold 9,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.12, for a total value of $884,616.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 144,168 shares in the company, valued at $13,713,260.16. This represents a 6.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 24,965 shares of company stock valued at $2,352,460 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Principal Financial Group from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Monday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $93.22.

Principal Financial Group Profile

Principal Financial Group, commonly known as Principal, is a global financial services company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. The firm provides a broad range of retirement, investment management and insurance solutions for individual, employer and institutional clients. Its core businesses include retirement plan services and recordkeeping, asset management, and life and disability insurance, supported by distribution through employers, financial advisors and direct channels.

On the retirement side, Principal offers 401(k) and other workplace retirement plans, individual retirement accounts and annuity products designed to help clients accumulate and manage retirement savings.