Principal Operating Earnings Rise 2% to $481.8 Million in Third Quarter
Key Facts
Principal Financial Group reported third-quarter 2026 non-GAAP operating earnings of $481.8 million, up 2% year over year, or $2.22 per diluted share, according to a company results summary based on its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Net income attributable to the company was $631.9 million, compared with $213.8 million in the same period of 2025, according to the filing. In another measure, the results summary reported net income excluding businesses the company exited at $355 million and operating earnings at $482 million after rounding. Diluted net income per share was also $2.91, while operating earnings per diluted share rose 6% to $2.22. These figures reflect different measures for the quarter; the company summary distinguishes between net income, operating earnings and the measure excluding exited businesses.
Excluding significant variances, adjusted operating earnings were $540.6 million, up 3% from a year earlier, according to the summary based on the SEC filing. Recurring deposits in the Retirement and Income Solutions segment were $13 billion, up 8% year over year, a figure the company cited among the segment's activity indicators. In asset management, the company recorded $0.8 billion in specialized institutional flows, alongside net flows of $0.5 billion into active exchange-traded funds. Principal's total assets under management were about $785 billion as of September 30, 2026, according to the official filing. Of that total, the Investment unit managed $581.7 billion, while assets managed by the International Pension unit were $166.2 billion on the same date.
Regarding factors affecting assets, the company said in its filing that foreign currency translation, market performance, divested operations and other factors outside net cash flows had a negative impact equivalent to about 1.5% of beginning-period assets during the quarter ended September 30. Assets from divested operations were negative $2.2 billion in the third quarter, mainly due to the sale of the International Pension unit's annuity business in Chile. Principal said the sale was the main reason for the value of divested assets recorded during the quarter. Net assets under management flows in the second quarter of 2026 were negative $11.1 billion, compared with negative $2.6 billion in the second quarter of 2025, according to the company's results for that quarter. This comparison provides context for the previous quarter, while the available figures do not include a third-quarter net cash flows figure.
Principal returned a total of $429 million to shareholders during the third quarter, including $250 million in share repurchases and $179 million in cash dividends on common stock, according to the results summary. The company announced an increase of one cent in its fourth-quarter 2026 dividend to $0.85 per share, up 8% from the same quarter a year earlier. In July, it had raised its third-quarter dividend to $0.84 per share, up 8% from the third quarter of 2025, according to its second-quarter results announcement. The figures show quarterly dividends rising from $0.84 in the third quarter to $0.85 in the fourth quarter. In the Specialty Benefits segment, sales rose 10%, and the incurred loss ratio was 59%, below the company's target range of 60% to 64%.
Principal said results would be released after the market close on October 26, 2026, and scheduled a management call to discuss third-quarter results and the full-year outlook for the following day. The call is scheduled for October 27 at 10 a.m. Eastern time, with Diana Strable, chair, president and chief executive officer, and Joel Pitz, executive vice president and chief financial officer, participating. In the stock market, the company's shares, traded under the ticker PFG, closed at $108.57 on October 23, according to EL7 data. The recorded closing session precedes the results release scheduled after the market close on October 26. The management call on October 27 is the occasion for presenting results and discussing the company's 2026 outlook.