Foster & Motley Inc. Acquires 5,982 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 40,923 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,982 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $3,393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PFG. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 251,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,202,000 after acquiring an additional 11,521 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Principal Financial Group during the first quarter valued at $244,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 8.1% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 62,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,235,000 after purchasing an additional 4,625 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Principal Financial Group by 24.1% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $633,000 after buying an additional 1,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 23.6% in the first quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 5,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 1,059 shares during the period. 75.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

PFG stock opened at $91.73 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $86.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.39. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a one year low of $68.39 and a one year high of $92.51. The company has a market capitalization of $20.43 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.89.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The company reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.12. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.05 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 8.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 46.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PFG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $91.60.

Insider Activity at Principal Financial Group

In related news, EVP Wee Yee Cheong sold 1,887 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.04, for a total transaction of $160,470.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 81,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,924,041.84. This represents a 2.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Principal Financial Group Company Profile

Principal Financial Group, commonly known as Principal, is a global financial services company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. The firm provides a broad range of retirement, investment management and insurance solutions for individual, employer and institutional clients. Its core businesses include retirement plan services and recordkeeping, asset management, and life and disability insurance, supported by distribution through employers, financial advisors and direct channels.

On the retirement side, Principal offers 401(k) and other workplace retirement plans, individual retirement accounts and annuity products designed to help clients accumulate and manage retirement savings.