Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Premier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:PFC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Premier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:PFC) by 22.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,573 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,542 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Premier Financial worth $577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Premier Financial by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,983,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,269,000 after buying an additional 10,557 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Premier Financial by 153.7% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 14,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 8,656 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Premier Financial by 6.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,000 after buying an additional 1,473 shares during the last quarter. EJF Capital LLC boosted its stake in Premier Financial by 490.8% during the first quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 158,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,220,000 after buying an additional 131,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management boosted its stake in Premier Financial by 56.9% during the first quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 3,043 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.14% of the company’s stock.

Premier Financial Trading Up 2.1 %

PFC opened at $28.85 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $25.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.14. Premier Financial Corp. has a one year low of $18.63 and a one year high of $29.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 1.25.

Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.04). Premier Financial had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The business had revenue of $112.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Premier Financial Corp. will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Premier Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Premier Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.94%.

Insider Transactions at Premier Financial

In other Premier Financial news, EVP Dennis E. Rose, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.98, for a total value of $55,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,011,309.12. The trade was a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Janney Montgomery Scott reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Premier Financial in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Premier Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.50.

Premier Financial Company Profile

Premier Financial Corp., through its subsidiaries, provides various banking services. It offers demand, checking, money market, and savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposits and certificates of deposit account registry service; and investment products. The company also provides residential and commercial real estate, commercial, construction, home improvement and home equity, installment, and consumer loans.