Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 13,300 Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 13,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,046,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PFG. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 143.0% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. PrairieView Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 81.7% in the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Principal Financial Group Stock Up 0.8 %

Principal Financial Group stock opened at $82.16 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $81.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.36. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.17 and a fifty-two week high of $86.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $19.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.25.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Principal Financial Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding 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 board believes its stock is undervalued.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 112.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.64.

Principal Financial Group 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.