Hilltop National Bank Buys Shares of 6,299 Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $500,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 7.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec increased its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 0.5% in the first quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 27,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,323,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 3.9% in the first quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 3,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG increased its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 12.6% during the first quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 1,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 32.3% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 684 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $86.90.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

Principal Financial Group stock opened at $84.24 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.76. The company has a market capitalization of $18.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.03. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.39 and a 1 year high of $91.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.29.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.19. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 62.78%.

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.