Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) Receives $88.60 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) have been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the ten brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $88.60.

Several research firms have commented on PFG. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Principal Financial Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 0.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,345,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,172,018,000 after buying an additional 97,149 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 9.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,370,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $982,617,000 after buying an additional 1,083,991 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 802.2% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,707,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,805,000 after buying an additional 3,296,608 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group in the second quarter worth about $227,098,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 5.4% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,740,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,675,000 after buying an additional 139,953 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Principal Financial Group Stock Down 0.3%

Principal Financial Group stock opened at $79.14 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $17.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $80.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.51. Principal Financial Group has a 52 week low of $68.39 and a 52 week high of $90.31.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.19. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Principal Financial Group will post 8.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.78%.

About Principal Financial Group

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.