Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $37.41 Million Holdings in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its stake in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 347,146 shares of the company’s stock after selling 43,206 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $37,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $273,276,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Principal Financial Group by 112.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,348,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,138,000 after buying an additional 1,244,668 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 9.6% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,370,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $982,617,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,991 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 62.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,023,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,800,000 after purchasing an additional 776,997 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 23.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,376,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,970,000 after acquiring an additional 636,334 shares during the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on Principal Financial Group from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $113.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Bank of America increased their price target on Principal Financial Group from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup lowered Principal Financial Group from a “sell” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $114.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 7,534 shares of Principal Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $777,207.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 66,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,854,259.88. This trade represents a 10.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Principal Financial Group Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of PFG stock opened at $113.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $110.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.43. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.64 and a 1 year high of $116.61. 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 (NASDAQ:PFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 9.93%.During the same period last year, the company earned $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 3rd. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 46.59%.

About Principal Financial Group

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.