Legal & General Group Plc Takes Position in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,529,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,848,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in Principal Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC acquired a new position in Principal Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Signature Equity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 5,733.3% in the 1st quarter. Signature Equity Partners LLC now owns 350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PFG shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Principal Financial Group from $113.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Citigroup cut shares of Principal Financial Group from a “sell” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Principal Financial Group from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.67.

Principal Financial Group Stock Performance

PFG stock opened at $112.21 on Thursday. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.90 and a 1-year high of $116.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $24.02 billion, a PE ratio of 15.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $111.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.85.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.11 billion. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.93% and a return on equity of 16.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio 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.