Principal Financial Group (PFG) will raise its quarterly dividend by 1.9 percent to $0.55 per share in the third quarter of 2019. This follows multiple dividend hikes last year and marks the 11th consecutive year of annual dividend increases.

The next dividend will be payable on September 27, 2019, to shareholders of record as of September 5, 2019. A new annual dividend rate of  $2.20 per share yields 3.6% at a stock price of $60.68.

“We continue to create long-term shareholder value through our balanced approach to capital deployment,” added Houston. “In the first half of the year, we returned $430 million to shareholders through common stock dividends and share repurchases. Additionally, during the second quarter we committed $1.2 billion to acquire the Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement & Trust business. The acquisition, which closed on July 1st, enables us to further capitalize on one of the largest opportunities in financial services – the U.S. retirement savings and retirement income markets. It essentially doubles the size of our U.S. retirement business, but more importantly, it improves our ability to serve customers, reinforces our commitment to the retirement industry, and enables us to create new value in the marketplace by combining the strengths of both business models and teams,” said Dan Houston, chairman, president and CEO of Principal.

Principal Financial Group, Inc. is a global investment management company offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement, asset management and insurance through its financial services companies.  The company provides long-term investment strategies to institutional, retirement, high net worth and retail clients through equity, fixed income, real estate and other alternative investments, as well as fund offerings. PFG has four reportable segments: Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal Global Investors, Principal International and U.S. Insurance Solutions. The company completed its initial offering on October 26, 2001 at a price of $18.50 per share and dividends have been paid since Q4 of 2002.