Ethic Inc. Acquires 3,528 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. increased its stake in Principal Financial Group by 11.4%, acquiring an additional 3,528 shares, bringing its total holdings to 34,581 shares valued at approximately $2.74 million.
• Notably, many institutional investors have also increased their holdings, with Victory Capital Management Inc. seeing a dramatic increase of 802.2% in the first quarter.
• Analysts have boosted their price targets for Principal Financial Group, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. raising theirs from $92.00 to $101.00 and maintaining an "overweight" rating.

Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG - Free Report) by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,581 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,528 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $2,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Principal Financial Group by 802.2% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,707,534 shares of the company's stock valued at $312,805,000 after acquiring an additional 3,296,608 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Principal Financial Group by 114.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,613,143 shares of the company's stock valued at $220,471,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393,008 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Principal Financial Group by 1.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,468,728 shares of the company's stock valued at $123,917,000 after acquiring an additional 20,221 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Principal Financial Group by 1.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,080,097 shares of the company's stock valued at $91,128,000 after acquiring an additional 17,969 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its stake in Principal Financial Group by 34.2% during the first quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 893,246 shares of the company's stock valued at $75,363,000 after acquiring an additional 227,836 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.08% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on PFG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Principal Financial Group from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Principal Financial Group from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Principal Financial Group has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $88.70.

Principal Financial Group Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of PFG opened at $79.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.03. 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 fifty-two week low of $68.39 and a fifty-two week high of $90.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $80.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.64.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.19. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current year.

About Principal Financial Group

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.

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