Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG Shares Bought by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) by 1,230.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,377 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 97,455 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $9,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group in the first quarter valued at $244,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $633,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 11.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 96.2% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,000 after buying an additional 1,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 9.1% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 37,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,015,000 after buying an additional 3,175 shares during the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

PFG opened at $107.75 on Monday. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.00 and a 1 year high of $112.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.28 billion, a PE ratio of 15.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $1.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.37 EPS for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Principal Financial Group news, 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 transaction of $259,233.93. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 21,906 shares in the company, valued at $2,208,781.98. This represents a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 9,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.26, for a total value of $929,870.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 77,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,816,056.88. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 28,317 shares of company stock worth $2,884,902 in the last quarter. 1.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PFG shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Principal Financial Group from $113.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price target on Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded 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 report on Tuesday, May 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.90.

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.