Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 231,601 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) by 1,218.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 250,602 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 231,601 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.11% of Principal Financial Group worth $19,715,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFG. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $51,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 35,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,607,000 after purchasing an additional 7,292 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 55.6% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,162,000 after purchasing an additional 5,657 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 32,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,345,000. Institutional investors own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on PFG shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Evercore ISI raised Principal Financial Group from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and upped their price target for the company from $82.00 to $83.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.18.

Principal Financial Group Trading Up 1.9 %

PFG stock opened at $86.07 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $80.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.06. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.17 and a fifty-two week high of $86.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 15.14% and a net margin of 4.56%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.70 EPS. Analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th will be given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 11th. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.65%.

Principal Financial Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Principal Financial Group Profile

Principal Financial Group, Inc provides retirement, asset management, and insurance products and services to businesses, individuals, and institutional clients worldwide. The company operates through Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal Asset Management, and Benefits and Protection segments. The Retirement and Income Solutions segment provides retirement, and related financial products and services.