Raleigh Capital Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Raleigh Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 7,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $703,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $273,276,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 112.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,348,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,138,000 after acquiring an additional 1,244,668 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,370,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $982,617,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,991 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 62.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,023,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,800,000 after purchasing an additional 776,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,376,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,970,000 after purchasing an additional 636,334 shares in the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Principal Financial Group

In other Principal Financial Group news, General Counsel George Djurasovic sold 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.83, for a total transaction of $259,233.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 21,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,208,781.98. This trade represents a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 9,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.26, for a total value of $929,870.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 77,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,816,056.88. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 28,317 shares of company stock valued at $2,884,902 in the last three months. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on PFG. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective (down from $98.00) on shares of Principal Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Principal Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $99.00 to $111.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Principal Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore set a $108.00 price target on Principal Financial Group in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Citigroup cut Principal Financial Group from a “sell” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six 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 $100.90.

Principal Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of PFG opened at $110.87 on Friday. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.00 and a 12-month high of $112.45. The stock has a market cap of $23.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.86, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a 50-day moving average of $104.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.03.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 16.25%. The business had revenue of $3.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.81 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is a boost from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 46.92%.

Principal Financial Group Company 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.