Barclays Begins Coverage on Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG)

Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued an underweight rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Principal Financial Group from $87.00 to $85.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Principal Financial Group from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and upped their target price for the company from $88.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Principal Financial Group from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Raymond James raised Principal Financial Group from a market perform rating to a strong-buy rating and set a $99.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $85.50.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of PFG stock opened at $77.53 on Wednesday. Principal Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $66.21 and a fifty-two week high of $88.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.87.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by ($0.24). Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 14.92% and a net margin of 8.05%. The business had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Principal Financial Group will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.96%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PFG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $253,990,000. Pinebridge Investments L.P. lifted its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 2,594.0% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 575,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,313,000 after purchasing an additional 554,606 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 403.6% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 354,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,800,000 after purchasing an additional 284,067 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in Principal Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $19,698,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 282.0% in the 1st quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 308,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,633,000 after purchasing an additional 227,608 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

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.