Sanctuary Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 35,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,799,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group during the second quarter worth $2,157,181,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position 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 worth $982,617,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,991 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,886,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,187,000 after purchasing an additional 119,327 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Principal Financial Group by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,376,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $279,970,000 after buying an additional 636,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Principal Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $273,276,000. 75.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PFG. Atlantic Securities set a $94.00 target price on Principal Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Principal Financial Group from $114.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Principal Financial Group from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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 report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.67.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

NASDAQ PFG opened at $111.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.28 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $111.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.74. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.90 and a 1 year high of $116.61. The company has a market cap of $23.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.88.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by $0.17. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 9.93%.The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.16 EPS. As a group, equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. 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 dividend yield of 3.0%. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.