Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases 5,886 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 118,204 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,886 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $9,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,667,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 37,836 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Principal Financial Group by 15.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,423,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $318,836,000 after purchasing an additional 575,646 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Principal Financial Group by 1,218.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 250,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,715,000 after purchasing an additional 231,601 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PFG shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Principal Financial Group from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Principal Financial Group from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.64.

Principal Financial Group Stock Performance

Principal Financial Group stock opened at $81.51 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $81.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.33. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.17 and a 52-week high of $86.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.25.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last released 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 return on equity of 15.14% and a net margin of 4.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.70 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.65%.

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.