Principal Financial's assets hold at $785 billion; net outflows reach $10.7 billion

Principal Financial Group reported third-quarter 2026 assets under management of $785.0 billion, little changed from a year earlier, after $10.7 billion of net cash outflows, according to its earnings release.

What happened

The Des Moines, Iowa-based company (Nasdaq: PFG) said assets under management were $785.0 billion, compared with $784.3 billion a year earlier. Assets under administration, which include those assets, were $1,840.3 billion, up 3%. Net cash flow into assets under management was negative $10.7 billion, compared with positive $0.4 billion in the third quarter of 2025.

Assets under management in the Investment Management business were $581.7 billion, down 3% from a year earlier. Principal said private markets assets in that business rose 6% and active ETFs had net inflows of $0.5 billion. International Pension assets of $166 billion increased 10%.

Net income attributable to Principal was $631.9 million, or $2.91 per diluted share, compared with $213.8 million, or $0.95, a year earlier. Non-GAAP operating earnings, a measure that excludes some items, were $481.8 million, up 2%, or $2.22 per diluted share, up 6%. Excluding significant variances, operating earnings were $2.49 per share, up 7%. The company said that beginning in the third quarter of 2026, impacts of its actuarial assumption review are excluded from non-GAAP operating earnings.

Capital returns

Principal returned $429 million to shareholders in the quarter, including $250 million of share repurchases and $179 million of common stock dividends. It said it had $1.5 billion of excess and available capital.

The company announced a fourth-quarter common stock dividend of $0.85 per share, a 1-cent increase, payable on December 18 to shareholders of record on December 2.

What to watch

Principal's executives were scheduled to discuss the results on a conference call at 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, October 27, according to the release.