Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys 16,592 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) by 18.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 108,209 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,592 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of Principal Financial Group worth $12,115,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Principal Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $228,000. Keybank National Association OH lifted its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 7,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $803,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $961,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group acquired a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 142.3% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 4,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 2,889 shares in the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PFG. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $121.00 price target on shares of Principal Financial Group in a report on Monday, August 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $117.00 to $115.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $120.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Evercore set a $111.00 target price on Principal Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $86.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Principal Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.75.

Principal Financial Group Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ PFG opened at $114.69 on Thursday. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.00 and a 12-month high of $121.18. The company has a market capitalization of $24.36 billion, a PE ratio of 12.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.28 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $112.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.42.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.24). Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 11.89% and a return on equity of 16.51%. The business had revenue of $4.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 2nd. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.78%.

Principal Financial Group Company Profile

Principal Financial Group, Inc. is a financial services company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. Founded in 1879 as Bankers Life Association, it later adopted the Principal name and expanded beyond its original insurance business. The company provides retirement and pension solutions, investment management, life and disability insurance, and employee benefits to businesses, individuals, and institutional clients. Its offerings include workplace retirement plans, group benefits, and investment products and services.