Goldstein Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG)

Goldstein Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 2,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC lifted its position in Principal Financial Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 11,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $870,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Argent Trust Co lifted its position in Principal Financial Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 29,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,272,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Principal Financial Group by 32.3% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in Principal Financial Group by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 4,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Principal Financial Group by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on PFG. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $93.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Principal Financial Group from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Principal Financial Group from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Principal Financial Group from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.85.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE PFG opened at $77.06 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.00. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $76.85 and its 200 day moving average is $79.56. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.39 and a fifty-two week high of $91.98.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.02). Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is 65.10%.

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.