Principal Financial Group Board Approves Share Buyback Up To $900 Mln

(RTTNews) - Principal Financial Group, Inc. (PFG) said Tuesday its board of directors approved a new authorization for the repurchase of up to $900 million of the company's outstanding common stock. As of December 31, 2019, about $168 million remained under the company's prior authorization.

The company said that the stock repurchases will be made in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions, from time to time and depending on market conditions.

The stock repurchase program may also be modified, extended or terminated at any time by the board of directors.

Principal Financial Group had about 274.7 million shares of common stock outstanding as of January 31, 2020, per the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Dan Houston, chairman, president and CEO of Principal Financial Group said, "As previously announced, we expect to externally deploy $1.2 billion to $1.7 billion of capital in 2020. This action reflects our continued confidence in the underlying strength of our diversified business model."