Principal Financial Group ( NASDAQ: PFG ) Q4 earnings surpassed the average Wall Street estimate Monday, but decreased from a year ago, as pre-tax operating earnings deteriorated for most of its segments.
"We have de-risked our portfolio, reduced our balance sheet risk, and our business is less capital intensive," noted President and CEO Dan Houston.
Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.70, vs. $1.54 consensus, slipped from $1.85 in the year-ago period.
Pre-tax operating earnings for Retirement and Income Solutions of $238.0M dipped from $329.8M a year before. For the company's Principal Global Investors and Principal International units, pre-tax operating earnings fell 28.1% to $138.6M and -12.8% to $91.7M respectively. U.S. Insurance Solutions, however, saw pre-tax operating earnings of $128.5M increase from $105.2M in Q4 2021.
Total assets under management were $635.3B, which is included in assets under administration of $1.5T.
Book value of $41.07 per share as of Dec. 31, 2022, compared with $61.40 as of Dec. 31, 2021.
During the quarter, the insurer deployed over $600M of capital, $400M of which was returned to shareholders through share buybacks and common stock dividends.
Conference call on Jan. 31 at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Earlier, Principal Financial Group Non-GAAP EPS of $1.70 beats by $0.16.
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Principal Financial Q4 earnings top consensus despite weakness across segments