Primerica (NYSE:PRI) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Primerica (NYSE:PRI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday.

PRI has been the subject of several other reports. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Primerica in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $314.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Primerica from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Primerica from $257.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Primerica from $239.00 to $249.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on Primerica in a research note on Friday, August 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $283.00 price target on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.33.

Primerica Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Primerica stock opened at $298.61 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $273.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $251.41. Primerica has a fifty-two week low of $184.76 and a fifty-two week high of $304.84. The firm has a market cap of $9.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81 and a beta of 1.08.

Primerica (NYSE:PRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $5.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.81 by $0.87. Primerica had a net margin of 14.95% and a return on equity of 30.93%. The company had revenue of $774.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $745.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.28 EPS. Primerica’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Primerica will post 19.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Primerica announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, November 14th that allows the company to buyback $450.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 4.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Primerica Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Primerica’s payout ratio is 27.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Primerica

In other Primerica news, CEO Glenn J. Williams sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.27, for a total value of $903,810.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,942,728.94. This represents a 7.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John A. Jr. Addison sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.85, for a total value of $507,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,846,081.35. This represents a 11.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,803,175 in the last 90 days. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Primerica by 3.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 696,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,807,000 after purchasing an additional 25,951 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc increased its position in Primerica by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 6,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,665,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Primerica by 108.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 20,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,428,000 after buying an additional 10,635 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in shares of Primerica by 72.4% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 2,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Primerica in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,187,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Primerica Company Profile

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.