Principal Financial (PFG) Tops Q1 Earnings, Hikes Dividend

Principal Financial Group, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:PFG) first-quarter 2018 reported a record operating net income of $1.40 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.7%. Moreover, the bottom line improved 10.2% year over year owing to higher revenues and lower expenses.

Principal Financial Group, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Including net realized capital loss of 4 cents per share, net income came in at $1.36, up 14.3% year over year.

Principal Financial delivered record operating profit and assets under management. The company’s investment performance remained solid. Expenses reduced on the back of a disciplined expense management. Moreover, the company displayed a balanced approach to capital management.

Behind the Headlines

Operating revenues decreased 5.1% year over year to $2.9 billion. Lower premiums and other considerations attributed to this downside. The top line also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.5 billion.

Total expenses decreased 7.9% year over year to $2.4 billion, primarily on lower benefits, claims and settlement expense as well as dividends to policyholders.

Principal Financial’s Asset Under Management (AUM) as of Mar 31, 2018 was a record $673.8 billion, up 8.7% year over year.

Segment Update

Retirement and Income Solution: Revenues declined 20.2% year over year to about $1.2 billion.

Pre-tax operating earnings were declined 4.7% year over year to $232.6 million owing to soft performance at Retirement and Income Solution — Fee business, attributable to lower net investment income and higher operating expenses.

Principal Global Investors: Revenues of $368.5 million were up 6.5% from the prior-year quarter.

Operating earnings increased 10.3% year over year to $110.3 million, attributable to higher management fee and expense control.

Principal International: Revenues increased 19.2% year over year to $383.1 million in the first quarter.

Operating earnings declined 13.8% year over year to $87 million, attributable to unfavorable encaje performance, partially offset by business growth.

U.S. Insurance Solution: Revenues grew nearly 6% year over year to $1 billion.

Operating earnings of $108.6 million were up nearly 26% year over year driven by better performances at both Specialty Benefits Insurance and Individual Life Insurance business.

Corporate: Operating loss of $42 million was narrower than $58.5 million loss incurred a year ago, attributable to lower corporate expenses. The company expects $190-$210 million in operating loss for 2018.

Financial Update

As of Mar 31, 2018, cash and cash equivalents were $2.3 billion, up 52.2% year over year.

At first-quarter end, debt was $3.3 billion, up 2.8% year over year.

As of Mar 31, 2018, book value per share (excluding AOCI other than foreign currency translation adjustment) was $40.83, up 17.2% year over year.

Dividend and Share Repurchase Update

The company paid $147.3 million in dividends and deployed $178.6 million to buy back 2.9 million shares. A sum of $84 million was directed toward acquisitions.

The board of directors of Principal Financial announced a dividend of 52 cents per share for the second quarter of 2018, translating into a 13% rise over the last payout. The same also marks the ninth straight hike.

Principal Financial provides guidance for 2018 capital deployment with a target range of $0.9-$1.3 billion.

Zacks Rank

Principal Financial carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other Investment Managers

In the first quarter, the bottom line of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) and Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE:LM) beat the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate. However, the same at Federated Investors, Inc. (NYSE:FII) missed expectation.

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