Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: PFG) announced that its board of directors has approved an authorization for the repurchase of up to $150 million worth of the company’s outstanding common stock.
The repurchases will be made in the open market or through privately-negotiated transactions, from time to time, depending on market conditions. The stock repurchase program may be modified, extended or terminated at any time by the Board of Directors. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has 293.9 million shares of common stock outstanding as of Dec. 31, 2014.
“This action reflects our continued confidence in the strength and financial flexibility of our investment management business model,” says Larry D. Zimpleman, chairman and chief executive officer of The Principal®. “We continue to generate free cash and strategically deploy it in the best interest of shareholders. As we said on our fourth quarter earnings call, we expect to deploy a total of $800 million to $1 billion of capital in 2015 on diverse strategies such as an increased common stock dividend and opportunistic acquisitions and share repurchase.”
Forward looking and cautionary statements
This press release
contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation,
statements as to operating earnings, net income available to common
stockholders, net cash flows, realized and unrealized gains and losses,
capital and liquidity positions, sales and earnings trends, and
management's beliefs, expectations, goals and opinions. The company does
not undertake to update these statements, which are based on a number of
assumptions concerning future conditions that may ultimately prove to be
inaccurate. Future events and their effects on the company may not be
those anticipated, and actual results may differ materially from the
results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. The risks,
uncertainties and factors that could cause or contribute to such
material differences are discussed in the company's annual report on
Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2014, filed by the company with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated or supplemented from
time to time in subsequent filings. These risks and uncertainties
include, without limitation: adverse capital and credit market
conditions may significantly affect the company’s ability to meet
liquidity needs, access to capital and cost of capital; conditions in
the global capital markets and the economy generally; continued
volatility or declines in the equity, bond or real estate markets;
changes in interest rates or credit spreads; the company’s investment
portfolio is subject to several risks that may diminish the value of its
invested assets and the investment returns credited to customers; the
company’s valuation of securities may include methodologies, estimations
and assumptions that are subject to differing interpretations; the
determination of the amount of allowances and impairments taken on the
company’s investments requires estimations and assumptions that are
subject to differing interpretations; gross unrealized losses may be
realized or result in future impairments; competition from companies
that may have greater financial resources, broader arrays of products,
higher ratings and stronger financial performance; a downgrade in the
company’s financial strength or credit ratings; inability to attract and
retain sales representatives and develop new distribution sources;
international business risks; the company’s actual experience could
differ significantly from its pricing and reserving assumptions; the
company’s ability to pay stockholder dividends and meet its obligations
may be constrained by the limitations on dividends or distributions Iowa
insurance laws impose on Principal Life; the pattern of amortizing the
company’s DAC and other actuarial balances on its universal life-type
insurance contracts, participating life insurance policies and certain
investment contracts may change; the company may need to fund
deficiencies in its “Closed Block” assets that support participating
ordinary life insurance policies that had a dividend scale in force at
the time of Principal Life’s 1998 conversion into a stock life insurance
company; the company’s reinsurers could default on their obligations or
increase their rates; risks arising from acquisitions of businesses;
changes in laws, regulations or accounting standards; a computer system
failure or security breach could disrupt the company’s business and
damage its reputation; results of litigation and regulatory
investigations; from time to time the company may become subject to tax
audits, tax litigation or similar proceedings, and as a result it may
owe additional taxes, interest and penalties in amounts that may be
material; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; and
applicable laws and the company’s certificate of incorporation and
by-laws may discourage takeovers and business combinations that some
stockholders might consider in their best interests.
About the Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial
Group® (The Principal®)1 is a global
investment management leader offering retirement services, insurance
solutions and asset management. The Principal offers businesses,
individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products
and services, including retirement, asset management and insurance
through its diverse family of financial services companies. Founded in
1879 and a member of the FORTUNE 500®, the Principal
Financial Group has $519.3 billion in assets under management2
and serves some 19.7 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia,
Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal
Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the
ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.
1 “The Principal Financial Group” and “The Principal” are
registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member
of the Principal Financial Group.
2 As of Dec. 31, 2014.