Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.09 EPS

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. Principal Financial Group had a return on equity of 15.14% and a net margin of 4.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.48 EPS.

Principal Financial Group Price Performance

PFG stock traded down $1.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $79.12. 1,420,275 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,125,168. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $81.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.39. Principal Financial Group has a 52-week low of $65.17 and a 52-week high of $86.79. The company has a market capitalization of $18.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.65%.

Principal Financial Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on PFG shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Principal Financial Group from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Principal Financial Group from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Principal Financial Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.64.

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.