Atlas Wealth LLC Purchases New Position in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Atlas Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 6,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $542,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 7.3% in the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 26,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796 shares during the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 2,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 104.3% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 20,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,823,000 after buying an additional 10,325 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 495 shares during the period. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 6,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $624,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel George Djurasovic sold 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.83, for a total value of $259,233.93. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 21,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,208,781.98. This represents a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 7,534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $777,207.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 66,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,854,259.88. This trade represents a 10.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 28,317 shares of company stock valued at $2,884,902. 1.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Principal Financial Group Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ PFG opened at $113.95 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $107.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.65. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.00 and a 12 month high of $114.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $24.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.88.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.06. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 16.25%. The company had revenue of $3.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.81 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on PFG. Raymond James Financial downgraded Principal Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $99.00 to $111.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $113.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Principal Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Three research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.83.

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.