Principal Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) finished Friday with an addition of $0.63 to close at $77.97, an upside of 0.81 percent. An average of 807,980 shares of common stock have been traded in the last five days. There was a fall of -$0.60 in the past week, and it reached a new high 16 times over the past 12 months. The last 20 days have seen an average of 1,103,235 shares traded, while the 50-day average volume stands at 1,140,976.
PFG stock has decreased by -2.42% in the last month. The company shares reached their 1-month lowest point of $76.90 on 08/11/23. With the stock rallying to its 52-week high on 02/08/23, shares of the company touched a low of $65.17 and a high of $96.17 in 52 weeks. It has reached a new high 10 times so far this year and lost -7.09% or -$5.95 in price. In spite of this, the price is down -18.92% from the 52-week high.
Insider Transactions
PFG stock investors should be aware that Principal Financial Group Inc. (PFG) stock had its last reported insider trading activity 297 days ago on Oct 19. In this transaction, the insider spent $80,020. Director, HELTON SANDRA L, disposed of 14,033 shares at a price of $80.05 on Oct 18. The insider now owns more than $1,123,342 worth of shares. Prior to that, EVP, Principal Asia Cheong Wee Yee went on to Sale 2,447 shares at $78.45 each on Sep 13. An amount of $191,967 was transacted.
Valuation Metrics
Principal Financial Group Inc. (PFG) has a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 12.05. The stock’s beta is 1.31. Other valuation ratios to consider include the trailing price-to-sales (P/S) ratio at 1.36, the price-to-book (PB) ratio at 1.83, and the price-to-cash flow ratio at 5.64.
The company has a payout ratio of 38.90%. The company’s most recent quarterly dividend payment was $0.65 a share, representing a up of 1.56% from $0.64 last year.
Financial Health
Further, the company has a long term debt to equity ratio of 0.39 and a total debt to equity ratio of 0.39 for the quarter ending June 29. Its gross profit as reported stood at $6.06 billion compared to revenue of $17.49 billion.
For investors, determining the potential profitability of the investment also depends on the performance of the company’s management. In the past 12 months, Principal Financial Group Inc.’s return on assets was 0.60%.
Earnings Surprise
For the three-month period that ended June 29, Principal Financial Group Inc. had $3.99 billion in total debt. In the quarter under review, the net income was up than the previous quarter. The company posted a net income of $388.8 million in the quarter, while revenues were shrunk -686.88%. The analyst consensus anticipated Principal Financial Group Inc.’s latest quarter earnings to come in at $1.65 per share, but it turned out to be $1.53, a -7.30% surprise. For the quarter, EBITDA amounted to $453.6 million. At the end of the quarter ending June 29, Principal Financial Group Inc.’s stock balance sheet showed total debt was $4.45 billion. Shareholders own equity worth $241.72 million.
Technical Picture
From a technical analysis perspective, let’s take a brief look at Principal Financial Group Inc. (PFG) price momentum. RSI 9-day as of the close on 11 August was 41.71%, suggesting the stock is Neutral, with historical volatility in this time frame at 16.46%.
As of today, PFG’s price is $78.41 -0.76% or -$0.60 from its 5-day moving average. PFG is currently trading -1.48% lower than its 20-day SMA and +6.90% higher than its 100-day SMA. However, the stock’s current price level is +19.11% above the SMA50 and -2.57% below the SMA200.
The stochastic %K and %D were 8.19% and 13.94%, respectively, and the average true range (ATR) was 1.61. With the 14-day stochastic at 13.81% and the average true range at 1.65, the RSI (14) stands at 46.64%. The stock has reached -0.87 on the 9-day MACD Oscillator while the 14-day reading was at -2.04.
Analyst Ratings
Jefferies upgraded Principal Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PFG) to a a Hold rating in its most recent analyst report. Previously, the stock was rated as an Underperform. The consensus rating for Principal Financial Group Inc. (PFG) among analysts is Underweight. According to current brokerage recommendations, 6 brokerage firms advise that investors sell PFG, while 11 suggest investors hold. There are 0 analysts who rate the stock as underweight. The stock is rated overweight by 0 analysts, while 0 others rate it as a “buy”.
What is PFG’s price target for the next 12 months?
Analysts predict a range of price targets between $64.00 and $87.00, with a median target of $78.00. Taking a look at these predictions, the average price target given by analysts for Principal Financial Group Inc. (PFG) stock is $77.71.
