Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) Holdings Lifted by Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) by 7.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,460 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,360,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,030,000 after purchasing an additional 149,353 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 296,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,624,000 after acquiring an additional 18,368 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 108.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 53,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,624,000 after acquiring an additional 27,827 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 59.4% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 24,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,095,000 after acquiring an additional 9,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 181,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,689,000 after acquiring an additional 14,339 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Principal Financial Group from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. 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 research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Principal Financial Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.50.

Principal Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PFG opened at $85.61 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $19.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.99. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $66.21 and a 52 week high of $88.26.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 14.92%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.96%.

Principal Financial Group Company 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.