Ethic Inc. Acquires 3,528 Shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

Ethic Inc. boosted its position in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) by 11.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,581 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,528 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Principal Financial Group were worth $2,738,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFG. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 802.2% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,707,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $312,805,000 after buying an additional 3,296,608 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,393,008 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Principal Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at $47,986,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 443.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 645,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,597,000 after buying an additional 526,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conning Inc. raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 5,081.7% during the 1st quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 404,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,166,000 after buying an additional 397,138 shares during the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on PFG. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Principal Financial Group from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Two 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.70.

Principal Financial Group Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE PFG opened at $79.62 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.74 billion, a PE ratio of 11.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.39 and a 12 month high of $90.31.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm posted $1.63 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Principal Financial Group 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.