Primerica (NYSE:PRI) Trading Down 0.4% – Here’s What Happened

Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI)’s stock price was down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $279.67 and last traded at $280.11. Approximately 29,369 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 138,271 shares. The stock had previously closed at $281.18.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PRI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Primerica from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Primerica from $313.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Primerica from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Primerica from $308.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Primerica in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $311.00 price objective for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $311.14.

Primerica Price Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $281.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $276.58. The company has a market capitalization of $9.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.40 and a beta of 1.11.

Primerica (NYSE:PRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $5.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.81 by $0.22. Primerica had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 31.11%. As a group, analysts expect that Primerica, Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Primerica Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. This is a boost from Primerica’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Primerica’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.18%.

Primerica announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, November 14th that allows the company to repurchase $450.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 4.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Primerica

In other news, CEO Glenn J. Williams sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.74, for a total value of $845,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,388,140.28. This trade represents a 8.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Primerica by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,288,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $349,717,000 after acquiring an additional 21,208 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Primerica by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 779,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,691,000 after purchasing an additional 82,921 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Primerica by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 347,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,194,000 after purchasing an additional 46,935 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Primerica by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 230,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,905 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Primerica by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 159,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,366,000 after buying an additional 1,484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

About Primerica

Primerica, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services to middle-income households in the United States and Canada. The company operates in four segments: Term Life Insurance; Investment and Savings Products; Senior Health; and Corporate and Other Distributed Products.