Principal Financial upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan

JPMorgan upgraded Principal Financial to Neutral from Underweight with a price target of $96, up from $88. The upgrade is driven by the company’s “superior” business mix, an expected improvement in asset management flows, and the stock’s significant underperformance, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says that while weak variable investment income will pressure earnings, underlying business trends will be healthy in Q2 for the life insurance group.