Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $7.93 Million Stock Holdings in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) by 17.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,778 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,968 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $7,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 802.2% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,707,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,805,000 after acquiring an additional 3,296,608 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 114.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,613,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393,008 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,986,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 443.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 645,431 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,597,000 after purchasing an additional 526,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 34.2% in the first quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 893,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,363,000 after purchasing an additional 227,836 shares during the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group increased 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. Piper Sandler set a $94.00 price target on shares of Principal Financial Group and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Principal Financial Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.90.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE PFG opened at $84.38 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $18.80 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.02. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.39 and a 52 week high of $90.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.55.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The company reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.12. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.05 EPS. Research analysts predict that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is an increase from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.00%.

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.