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Principal Financial Group Short Interest Snapshot
Principal Financial Group (PFG) has 9,453,804 shares short (4.42% of shares outstanding), down 5.8% from the prior period — shorts are covering. The data is biweekly short interest reported to NASDAQ, with a built-in 2-week reporting lag — the same canonical figure short-interest trackers publish.
Recent PFG Short Interest Settlements
Each row is a biweekly snapshot — the cadence at which short interest is officially reported. The percent column is the change versus the prior settlement.
| Settlement Date | Shares Short | vs Prior | Days to Cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 15, 2026 | 9,453,804 | 6.43 | |
| Aug 31, 2026 | 10,035,188 | 10.79 | |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 8,806,265 | 8.37 | |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 8,340,273 | 4.27 | |
| Jul 15, 2026 | 8,555,725 | 7.20 | |
| Jun 30, 2026 | 8,875,762 | 4.92 | |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 9,393,760 | 8.96 | |
| May 29, 2026 | 9,853,147 | 9.09 |
Is Principal Financial Group Heavily Shorted?
"Days to cover" is the number of average trading days it would take shorts to buy back their position at recent volume. For PFG, that’s currently 6.43 days against 1,471,051 shares of average daily volume. Days to cover above 5 is elevated and worth watching — a sustained upside move could put visible pressure on the short side.
PFG Short Interest in Context
Short interest is most useful read against the rest of the picture. Heavy shorting that lines up with insider selling and weakening Employee Business Outlook is a different story from heavy shorting with insider buying and a positive AI Score — the same number, very different setups.
The other signals on PFG right now:
- PFG AI Score — 52/100
- Employee Business Outlook — 64% positive (positive)
Read together, the picture is mixed — no decisive read from short interest plus the underlying signals. Worth tracking which side moves first.
For the other side of the position, see PFG insider transactions and congressional trades. For social-side conviction, see PFG overall sentiment and Reddit mentions.
Principal Financial Group Short Interest: Frequently Asked Questions
Principal Financial Group has 9,453,804 shares short — about 4.42% of its shares outstanding as of Sep 15, 2026. This figure is the official biweekly short interest report, which lags the settlement date by about two weeks — the same convention every short-interest tracker uses. (Note: "% of shares outstanding" runs slightly below the "% of float" you may see on MarketBeat or Fintel, since float excludes insider-held and restricted shares.)
At 9,453,804 shares short and 1,471,051 shares of average daily volume, PFG’s days-to-cover is 6.43. Days to cover above 5 is elevated and worth watching — a sustained upside move could put visible pressure on the short side.
Short squeezes happen when heavily shorted stocks rally sharply, forcing shorts to buy back at higher prices. The classic warning signs are days-to-cover above ~5, rising short interest, and a catalyst that pushes price up. PFG currently meets the days-to-cover threshold. AltIndex tracks short interest alongside insider activity and sentiment — the same number reads very differently depending on what those other signals say.
The biweekly short interest figures come from NASDAQ’s official short interest report — the same source used by MarketBeat, Fintel, and Benzinga. The data is settlement-date-based, published twice a month, and lags about two weeks. For daily short-selling activity (a higher-frequency complement), see the short squeeze tracker.
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