Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) Price Target Cut to $86.00 by Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) had its price target trimmed by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $88.00 to $86.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on PFG. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Principal Financial Group from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Principal Financial Group from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Raymond James raised Principal Financial Group from a market perform rating to a strong-buy rating and set a $99.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $85.50.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of PFG stock opened at $75.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s fifty day moving average is $80.84 and its 200 day moving average is $81.10. Principal Financial Group has a twelve month low of $66.21 and a twelve month high of $88.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.87 by ($0.24). Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 14.92% and a net margin of 8.05%. The company had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Principal Financial Group will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.20%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PFG. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Principal Financial Group by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,168,000 after buying an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Principal Financial Group by 51.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Principal Financial Group by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $653,000 after buying an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. purchased a new stake in Principal Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $30,290,000. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Principal Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $221,000. 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.