Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its stake in Principal Financial Group by 6.4%, selling 249,408 shares, leaving it with approximately 3.66 million shares valued at $309 million.
• Principal Financial Group announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.78 per share, reflecting a 4.0% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 62.78%.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on Principal Financial Group, with three sell ratings, five hold ratings, and two buy ratings, leading to a consensus target price of $86.70.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its stake in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG - Free Report) by 6.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,663,656 shares of the company's stock after selling 249,408 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.63% of Principal Financial Group worth $309,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tompkins Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the first quarter worth about $55,000. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group during the first quarter worth about $281,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group during the first quarter worth about $943,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 2.6% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 526,649 shares of the company's stock worth $44,433,000 after buying an additional 13,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 802.2% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,707,534 shares of the company's stock valued at $312,805,000 after purchasing an additional 3,296,608 shares in the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PFG shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday. Barclays upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Principal Financial Group from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $86.90.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:PFG traded up $2.3440 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $81.0140. The company's stock had a trading volume of 440,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,401,932. The business's 50-day moving average is $78.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.46. The company has a market capitalization of $18.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.15, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.29. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $68.39 and a 52-week high of $91.97.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.19. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 9.74%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $0.78 dividend. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Principal Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.78%.

Principal Financial Group Profile

Principal Financial Group, Inc provides retirement, asset management, and insurance products and services to businesses, individuals, and institutional clients worldwide. The company operates through Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal Asset Management, and Benefits and Protection segments. The Retirement and Income Solutions segment provides retirement, and related financial products and services.