TD Asset Management Inc Cuts Stock Holdings in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

TD Asset Management Inc reduced its position in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,837 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,556 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc owned 0.05% of Principal Financial Group worth $10,130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PFG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $273,276,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Principal Financial Group by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,370,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $982,617,000 after buying an additional 1,083,991 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Principal Financial Group by 62.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,023,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,800,000 after buying an additional 776,997 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Principal Financial Group by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,376,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $279,970,000 after buying an additional 636,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Principal Financial Group by 84.9% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,103,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,856,000 after buying an additional 506,841 shares in the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Principal Financial Group Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of Principal Financial Group stock opened at $106.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.88. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.00 and a fifty-two week high of $106.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $98.71 and a 200 day moving average of $93.14.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.06. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 16.25% and a net margin of 10.10%.The company had revenue of $3.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.81 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.36 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, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. Principal Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 46.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Principal Financial Group news, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 9,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.26, for a total transaction of $929,870.58. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 77,188 shares in the company, valued at $7,816,056.88. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel George Djurasovic sold 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the general counsel owned 21,906 shares in the company, valued at $2,208,781.98. This trade represents a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 28,317 shares of company stock worth $2,884,902 over the last 90 days. 1.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFG has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore set a $108.00 price objective on Principal Financial Group in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered Principal Financial Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial lowered Principal Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $96.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.10.

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.