Principal Financial shares sink after quarterly report

Principal Financial

25/10/2024 19:12

** Shares in Principal Financial Group  PFG.O  were down 8% on
Friday, on track for biggest one-day pct drop since June 10,
2020 after Thursday reporting adj quarterly earnings that missed
Wall Street expectations
    ** PFG was biggest percentage decliner in the S&P 500
financial index  .SPSY  and hit its lowest level since Sept. 12,
on track for its biggest trading volume day since Sept. 20
    ** PFG, a provider of services related to retirement, asset
management and insurance, reported adj EPS of $1.76 vs Wall St
consensus est of $2.02, per LSEG 
    ** Jefferies analyst Suneet Kamath cited life insurance as a
negative impact, but said it appeared to be "mostly
PFG-specific" 
    ** Still, the Des Moines, Iowa-based co reported net
investment income of $1.17 billion for the qtr vs $989.2 million
a year earlier
    ** Also, Premium and fees from PFG's specialty benefits
business, which provides employee benefit plans to small- and
mid-sized businesses, rose 6% to $818.8 million
    ** Stock last traded at $83.12 vs median PT of $86 as per
LSEG, which shows 15 analyst ratings: 1 'strong buy,' 12 'hold,'
1 'sell' and 1 'strong sell' rating

 (Reporting By Sinéad Carew, Manya Saini, Vedant Vinayak)
 ((sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com; +13322191897;))