Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.09 EPS

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.68 billion. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 15.14% and a net margin of 4.56%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.48 EPS.

Principal Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE PFG traded down $1.94 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $79.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,420,275 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,125,168. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.39. The firm has a market cap of $18.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Principal Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $65.17 and a fifty-two week high of $86.79.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 112.65%.

Principal Financial Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Principal Financial Group from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Principal Financial Group from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.64.

Principal Financial Group Company Profile

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.