Wealth Alliance LLC Makes New $499,000 Investment in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Wealth Alliance LLC bought a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 5,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 9.6% during the second 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 purchasing an additional 119,327 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 636,334 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Principal Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $273,276,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,079,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,674,000 after buying an additional 55,669 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Principal Financial Group

In other news, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 7,534 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $777,207.44. Following the transaction, the insider owned 66,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,854,259.88. This trade represents a 10.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel George Djurasovic sold 2,571 shares of Principal Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.83, for a total value of $259,233.93. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 21,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,208,781.98. The trade was a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 28,317 shares of company stock valued at $2,884,902 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Principal Financial Group Stock Performance

PFG stock opened at $109.40 on Monday. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a one year low of $75.00 and a one year high of $114.90. The stock has a market cap of $23.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $108.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 16.25%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.81 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.45 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial cut Principal Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $99.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $114.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.00.

About Principal Financial Group

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.