Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $107.08 Million Stake in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,213,883 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,746 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $107,077,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. increased its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 343.6% in the fourth quarter. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. now owns 346 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Principal Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its stake in Principal Financial Group by 66.5% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Principal Financial Group by 3,754.5% during the fourth quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 424 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. 75.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 7,534 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider owned 66,443 shares in the company, valued at $6,854,259.88. The trade was a 10.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel George Djurasovic sold 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.83, for a total value of $259,233.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 21,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,208,781.98. The trade was a 10.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 28,317 shares of company stock worth $2,884,902 in the last 90 days. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

PFG stock opened at $105.22 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.82. The stock has a market cap of $22.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.88. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.00 and a 1 year high of $105.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 16.25%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.81 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on PFG. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Principal Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $99.00 to $111.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Evercore set a $108.00 price target on shares of Principal Financial Group in a report on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.10.

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.