Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) Earns Market Perform Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed their market perform rating on shares of Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $23.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $25.00.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on PFC. Hovde Group upgraded 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 note on Monday, April 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Premier Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday.

Premier Financial Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PFC opened at $19.75 on Thursday. Premier Financial has a 12-month low of $13.60 and a 12-month high of $24.87. The stock has a market cap of $707.05 million, a P/E ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.46.

Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. Premier Financial had a return on equity of 9.19% and a net margin of 23.67%. The company had revenue of $108.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Premier Financial will post 2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.28%. Premier Financial’s payout ratio is currently 40.00%.

Insider Transactions at Premier Financial

In related news, Director Donald P. Hileman sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.07, for a total value of $30,105.00. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders own 2.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Premier Financial by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,254,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,342,000 after acquiring an additional 17,231 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Premier Financial by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,930,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,942,000 after buying an additional 14,655 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Premier Financial by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,065,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,669,000 after buying an additional 48,257 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Premier Financial by 333.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 268,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,575,000 after buying an additional 206,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Premier Financial by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 206,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,982,000 after acquiring an additional 25,800 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.14% of the company’s stock.

About Premier Financial

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.