Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Sells 538,102 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd decreased its holdings in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) by 90.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 56,195 shares of the company’s stock after selling 538,102 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $4,957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PFG. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,370,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $982,617,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,991 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 62.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,023,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,800,000 after purchasing an additional 776,997 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 23.2% in the 3rd 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. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $90,856,000 after purchasing an additional 506,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc increased its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 199.1% in the 3rd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 637,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,843,000 after purchasing an additional 424,231 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “hold” rating and set a $92.00 price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $96.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Evercore set a $108.00 price objective on Principal Financial Group in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.33.

Insider Activity

In other Principal Financial Group news, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 9,183 shares of Principal Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,816,056.88. The trade was a 10.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel George Djurasovic sold 2,571 shares of Principal Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.83, for a total value of $259,233.93. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 21,906 shares in the company, valued at $2,208,781.98. The trade was a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 17,572 shares of company stock worth $1,776,769 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Principal Financial Group Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of PFG stock opened at $100.42 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.89. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.00 and a twelve month high of $103.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.38.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the company posted $1.81 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This is a boost from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.78%.

Principal Financial Group Company 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.