VCI Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stake in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

VCI Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) by 30.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,104 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,607 shares during the quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $1,181,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Principal Financial Group by 9.6% during 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. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Principal Financial Group by 23.2% during the third 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 period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $273,276,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,079,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,674,000 after acquiring an additional 55,669 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,498,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,416,000 after acquiring an additional 135,631 shares in the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFG has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (down from $98.00) on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Principal Financial Group from a “sell” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Principal Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Principal Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.90.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of PFG opened at $107.75 on Friday. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.00 and a 52 week high of $112.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $23.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $103.37 and a 200-day moving average of $95.33.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 16.25% and a net margin of 10.10%.During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.81 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.37 EPS for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 46.92%.

Insider Activity at Principal Financial Group

In other news, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 7,534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 66,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,854,259.88. This represents a 10.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel George Djurasovic sold 2,571 shares of Principal Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.83, for a total transaction of $259,233.93. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 21,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,208,781.98. The trade was a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 28,317 shares of company stock valued at $2,884,902. Company insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

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.