EP Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Key Points

• EP Wealth Advisors purchased 12,403 shares of Principal Financial Group worth approximately $1.34 million. Institutional investors collectively own 75.08% of PFG, with BlackRock and Bank of America among the largest holders.
• Analysts maintain a mixed outlook, resulting in a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $106.67. PFG recently traded at $110.75, near its 12-month high of $116.61.
• Principal Financial Group exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting EPS of $2.50 versus the $2.33 consensus estimate. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.84, representing a 3.0% annualized yield.

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 12,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,337,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,157,181,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 9.6% in 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 during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 3.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,886,509 shares of the company's stock valued at $350,187,000 after acquiring an additional 119,327 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted 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 valued at $279,970,000 after acquiring an additional 636,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Principal Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $273,276,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.08% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on PFG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $121.00 price target on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Citigroup cut Principal Financial Group from a "sell" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Evercore set a $108.00 target price on Principal Financial Group in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Principal Financial Group from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $106.67.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

PFG stock opened at $110.75 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $111.67 and a 200 day moving average of $101.51. The firm has a market cap of $23.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.87. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.90 and a twelve month high of $116.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.17. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 9.93%.The business had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be given a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Principal Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Principal Financial Group's payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

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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