EP Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,982 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $857,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Principal Financial Group by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,905,124 shares of the company's stock worth $306,393,000 after acquiring an additional 39,854 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Principal Financial Group by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,903,138 shares of the company's stock worth $149,301,000 after acquiring an additional 53,516 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Principal Financial Group by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,689 shares of the company's stock valued at $120,577,000 after buying an additional 18,801 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 27.2% during the third quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 540,212 shares of the company's stock worth $46,404,000 after purchasing an additional 115,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Principal Financial Group by 41.0% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 503,735 shares of the company's stock worth $43,367,000 after buying an additional 146,473 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.08% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on PFG. Barclays boosted their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Principal Financial Group from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $87.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating and set a $80.00 target price (down from $86.00) on shares of Principal Financial Group in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Principal Financial Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $84.75.

Principal Financial Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:PFG traded down $0.90 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $79.84. 1,930,707 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,142,578. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -88.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $86.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.47. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.21 and a 1 year high of $91.97.

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.02 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. Principal Financial Group had a negative net margin of 1.47% and a positive return on equity of 14.67%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a boost from Principal Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Principal Financial Group's payout ratio is -324.44%.

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.