Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.24 EPS

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.87 by ($0.24), Briefing.com reports. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 15.06% and a net margin of 8.70%. The business had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS.

Principal Financial Group Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of PFG traded down $2.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $81.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,833,411 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,106,820. The stock has a market cap of $19.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Principal Financial Group has a 52 week low of $66.21 and a 52 week high of $88.26. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $81.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.05.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 54.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Principal Financial Group from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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 report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.42.

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.