Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $311.14.

Several research analysts have weighed in on PRI shares. TD Cowen upped their target price on Primerica from $314.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Primerica in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $311.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Primerica from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Primerica from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Primerica from $308.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Primerica 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 owns 33,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,388,140.28. This trade represents a 8.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Primerica

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Primerica by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,288,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $349,717,000 after acquiring an additional 21,208 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $211,691,000 after acquiring an additional 82,921 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Primerica by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 347,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,194,000 after buying an additional 46,935 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Primerica by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 230,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,626,000 after buying an additional 2,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Primerica by 0.9% in the 4th 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 own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Primerica Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE PRI opened at $273.38 on Friday. Primerica has a 12 month low of $184.76 and a 12 month high of $307.91. The company has a market cap of $9.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $281.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $276.58.

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

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

Primerica Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $1.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. This is an increase from Primerica’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Primerica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.18%.

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.