By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG – Free Report) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Piper Sandler currently has $90.00 price objective on the stock.
PFG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $75.00 target price (down from $84.00) on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $87.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (down from $86.00) on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.75.
Read Our Latest Analysis on PFG
Principal Financial Group Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:PFG traded down $0.14 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $74.77. 156,033 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,145,198. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Principal Financial Group has a 52-week low of $72.21 and a 52-week high of $91.97. The company has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -83.08, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.20.
Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.02 by ($0.26). Principal Financial Group had a positive return on equity of 14.67% and a negative net margin of 1.47%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Principal Financial Group will post 7.03 EPS for the current year.
Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -324.44%.
Institutional Trading of Principal Financial Group
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PFG. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Principal Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Principal Financial Group in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in Principal Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other 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.
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