Premier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:PFC) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.31

Premier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:PFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.31 per share on Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd.

Premier Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 12.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Premier Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 52.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Premier Financial to earn $2.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.7%.

Premier Financial Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PFC opened at $20.50 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $733.90 million, a PE ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.40. Premier Financial has a 12-month low of $13.60 and a 12-month high of $24.87.

Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $108.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.93 million. Premier Financial had a net margin of 23.67% and a return on equity of 9.19%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Premier Financial will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Donald P. Hileman sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.07, for a total value of $30,105.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $628,411.77. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Premier Financial from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Hovde Group raised shares of Premier Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.50 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Premier Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday.

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.