MQS Management LLC Purchases New Position in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG

MQS Management LLC acquired a new position 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 acquired 8,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $657,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,269,000. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. purchased a new stake in Principal Financial Group in the first quarter worth $281,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 2.6% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 526,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,433,000 after purchasing an additional 13,483 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in Principal Financial Group by 3.5% during the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 72,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,747,000 after buying an additional 2,469 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 75.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PFG shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Principal Financial Group from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley raised Principal Financial Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.70.

Principal Financial Group Trading Up 0.2%

Principal Financial Group stock opened at $79.62 on Friday. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a one year low of $68.39 and a one year high of $90.31. The business’s fifty day moving average is $80.91 and its 200 day moving average is $78.70. The stock 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 8.5 EPS for the current year.

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.