Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Sells 232 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lowered its holdings in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) by 1.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,724 shares of the company’s stock after selling 232 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $1,567,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PFG. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 49.3% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 10,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $917,000 after acquiring an additional 3,557 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Principal Financial Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $209,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 1,645 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Principal Financial Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $943,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 1,721.1% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 148,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,502,000 after purchasing an additional 140,046 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Piper Sandler set a $94.00 target price on shares of Principal Financial Group and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $88.60.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

PFG opened at $79.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.89, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.03. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.39 and a fifty-two week high of $91.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $80.37 and a 200 day moving average of $78.64.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.19. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 8.5 EPS for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. This is a boost from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 62.78%.

Principal Financial Group Company 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.