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

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued their market perform rating on shares of Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $23.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $25.00.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on PFC. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Premier Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday. Hovde Group upgraded Premier Financial from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $22.50 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st.

Premier Financial Price Performance

PFC opened at $19.75 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.71 and a 200-day moving average of $20.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $707.05 million, a P/E ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 1.27. Premier Financial has a 12-month low of $13.60 and a 12-month high of $24.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $108.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.93 million. Premier Financial had a return on equity of 9.19% and a net margin of 23.67%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Premier Financial will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $30,105.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,311 shares in the company, valued at $628,411.77. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Premier Financial

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Premier Financial by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,254,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,342,000 after buying an additional 17,231 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Premier Financial by 0.8% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Premier Financial by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,065,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,669,000 after buying an additional 48,257 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Premier Financial by 333.1% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 268,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,575,000 after buying an additional 206,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 25,800 shares during the last quarter. 66.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.