Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Increases Holdings in Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) by 207.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Primerica were worth $130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Primerica during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,094,000. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in Primerica by 5.4% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 1,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Primerica by 1.4% during the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,237,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $292,688,000 after purchasing an additional 17,095 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in shares of Primerica by 0.9% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 12,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Primerica by 11.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on PRI. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Primerica in a report on Friday, August 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $283.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Primerica from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Primerica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Primerica from $257.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Primerica from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $275.20.

Primerica Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of PRI opened at $266.56 on Friday. Primerica, Inc. has a 52 week low of $184.76 and a 52 week high of $267.92. The firm has a market cap of $9.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $255.16 and a 200-day moving average of $240.31.

Primerica (NYSE:PRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.47 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $803.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $748.88 million. Primerica had a net margin of 14.85% and a return on equity of 27.81%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Primerica, Inc. will post 17.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Primerica Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This is a positive change from Primerica’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Primerica’s dividend payout ratio is 21.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Glenn J. Williams sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.55, for a total transaction of $757,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,446,071.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director John A. Jr. Addison sold 2,000 shares of Primerica stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.85, for a total value of $507,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,846,081.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn J. Williams sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.55, for a total transaction of $757,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,446,071.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,657,015 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.85% 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.