Principal Financial Group Inc (PFG) Stock Price & How to Invest

Principal Financial Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: PFG) is a global financial services company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, that serves individuals and businesses across retirement, investment management, and insurance. Its business is organized around a few core engines: Retirement and Income Solutions (workplace retirement plans, annuities, and income products in the United States), Global Asset Management (the Principal Global Investors and Principal International operations that manage money for institutional and retail clients), and U.S. Insurance Solutions (specialty benefits like dental, vision, disability, and life insurance, plus individual life). The company earns money from fees on the assets it manages and administers, spread income on its insurance and annuity products, and insurance premiums, so a large share of its revenue is tied to the level of assets under management, which reached about $770 billion in early 2026.

The investment picture rests on Principal's shift toward higher-fee, capital-lighter retirement and asset management businesses, its international pension franchise, and a strong capital-return story. The company has raised its dividend for many consecutive quarters and returns capital through buybacks, targeting a non-GAAP operating return on equity in the mid-teens. Full-year 2025 GAAP results were held down by items affecting net income, but underlying operating earnings and 2026 guidance pointed to continued growth in retirement deposits, record asset management sales, and margin expansion. Because so much of the model depends on asset values and flows, the stock tends to track equity markets, interest rates, and the pace of net client inflows and outflows.

Because a large share of Principal's revenue comes from fees on managed assets, the stock is sensitive to equity and bond market declines, which shrink assets under management and fee income. Net outflows, where clients withdraw more than they add, can offset market gains and pressure the asset management and retirement segments. Interest rates cut both ways: they affect spread income on annuities and insurance products, the value of the investment portfolio, and demand for retirement products. The insurance operations carry underwriting, mortality, morbidity, and reserve risks, and adverse claims experience or reserve strengthening can depress earnings, as reflected in the gap between GAAP net income and operating earnings in 2025. International operations add currency and local regulatory and political risk, and the whole business faces intense competition and fee pressure from much larger asset managers and insurers.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Principal Financial Group Inc's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (FY2025): ~$15.6 billion
• Net Income (FY2025, GAAP): ~$1.19 billion
• Diluted EPS (FY2025, GAAP): ~$5.32 (down from ~$6.77 in 2024)
• Assets Under Management (Q1 2026): ~$770 billion
• Non-GAAP Operating ROE (Q1 2026): ~16% (target 15-17%)
• Dividend: ~$3.28 per share annually, yield ~3%
• Market Capitalization: ~$24 billion (mid-2026)
• Price-to-Earnings: ~16x

Principal trades at a modest earnings multiple typical of diversified financials, with a roughly 3% dividend yield and a mid-teens operating return on equity. GAAP EPS fell in 2025 on items affecting net income, but non-GAAP operating EPS grew (up about 14% year over year in Q1 2026). Valuation and results are closely tied to the level of equity markets and asset flows, so figures move with market conditions.

There are three common ways to get PFG exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic basket, so PFG sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the basket route. Describe a thesis where PFG fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

Principal is a diversified, dividend-focused financial services company built around retirement, global asset management, and insurance, trading at a modest earnings multiple with a roughly 3% yield, and its results move with equity markets, interest rates, and the direction of client asset flows.

Whether PFG is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is PFG a buy?, and where the stock could go from here in the PFG stock forecast.

For income investors, whether PFG pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does PFG pay a dividend?