Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) Price Target Increased to $91.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) had its price target hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $86.00 to $91.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on PFG. Evercore ISI raised shares of Principal Financial Group from an underperform rating to an inline rating and upped their price target for the company from $82.00 to $83.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $80.00.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:PFG opened at $79.82 on Thursday. Principal Financial Group has a one year low of $65.17 and a one year high of $86.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $18.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.58, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $81.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.82.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.13. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 4.56% and a return on equity of 15.14%. The company had revenue of $2.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Principal Financial Group will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Principal Financial Group declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 12th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 112.65%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PFG. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 6,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in Principal Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,667,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 277,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,804,000 after acquiring an additional 37,836 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,423,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,836,000 after acquiring an additional 575,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 1,218.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 250,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,715,000 after acquiring an additional 231,601 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.