Danske Bank A S Makes New Investment in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 126,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,592,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PFG. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. grew its stake in Principal Financial Group by 343.6% in the fourth quarter. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. now owns 346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Principal Financial Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.67.

Principal Financial Group Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ PFG opened at $110.54 on Friday. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.34 and a 12-month high of $116.61. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $23.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.88.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by $0.17. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.93% and a return on equity of 16.49%. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.16 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. This is a boost from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.59%.

About Principal Financial Group

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ: PFG) is a global financial services company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, that provides a range of retirement, investment and insurance solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. The firm’s business is organized around retirement services, asset management, and insurance products designed to help clients plan, invest for, and protect income over the long term.

Principal’s product and service offerings include retirement plan recordkeeping and administration for employer-sponsored plans, individual and group retirement annuities, life and disability insurance, employee benefits solutions, and wealth management services.