Brookstone Capital Management Acquires 12,895 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Key Points

• Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in Principal Financial Group by 432.6% in Q1, buying 12,895 additional shares to bring its total holding to 15,876 shares worth about $1.43 million.
• Principal Financial Group reported quarterly earnings of $2.07 per share, beating analyst expectations, while revenue came in below estimates at $3.53 billion.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.82 per share from $0.80, implying an annualized yield of about 3.1%.

Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG - Free Report) by 432.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,876 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,895 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management's holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $1,431,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PFG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $273,276,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 112.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,348,233 shares of the company's stock worth $207,138,000 after acquiring an additional 1,244,668 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 9.6% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,370,852 shares of the company's stock worth $982,617,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,991 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 62.3% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,023,880 shares of the company's stock worth $167,800,000 after purchasing an additional 776,997 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 23.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,376,797 shares of the company's stock worth $279,970,000 after purchasing an additional 636,334 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.08% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PFG. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Evercore set a $108.00 target price on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Principal Financial Group from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $111.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Barclays boosted their target price 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, Citigroup lowered shares of Principal Financial Group from a "sell" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $100.90.

Principal Financial Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ PFG opened at $105.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.78 billion, a PE ratio of 15.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.88. 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 $103.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $95.25. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 16.25% and a net margin of 10.10%.The business had revenue of $3.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.81 EPS. Analysts predict that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 7,534 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $777,207.44. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel George Djurasovic sold 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $2,208,781.98. This trade represents a 10.50% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 28,317 shares of company stock valued at $2,884,902 in the last 90 days. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Principal Financial Group Profile

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.

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