Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $91.59 and last traded at $91.27, with a volume of 86250 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $91.15.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PFG. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Raymond James upgraded shares of Principal Financial Group from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.42.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.50. The stock has a market cap of $21.46 billion, a PE ratio of 17.40, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last announced its 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). The company had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were paid 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 was Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 54.96%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Principal Financial Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PFG. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 2.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,602,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,844,000 after acquiring an additional 152,774 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 1.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,905,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,393,000 after acquiring an additional 39,854 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 2.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,903,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,301,000 after acquiring an additional 53,516 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 6.6% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 692,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,786,000 after acquiring an additional 43,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 478,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,509,000 after acquiring an additional 2,487 shares in the last quarter. 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.