Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Increases Stock Position in Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) by 53.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,498 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Primerica were worth $1,948,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Primerica by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 696,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,807,000 after purchasing an additional 25,951 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Primerica by 30,726.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 680,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $161,102,000 after purchasing an additional 678,752 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Primerica by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 121,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,176,000 after purchasing an additional 5,323 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Primerica by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 108,399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,742,000 after purchasing an additional 8,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospector Partners LLC lifted its stake in Primerica by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 77,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,431,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PRI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Primerica in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $311.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Primerica from $313.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Primerica from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Primerica from $314.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Primerica from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.14.

Insider Activity at Primerica

In other Primerica news, CEO Glenn J. Williams sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.27, for a total value of $903,810.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 36,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,942,728.94. This trade represents a 7.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Primerica Stock Performance

PRI stock opened at $291.61 on Friday. Primerica, Inc. has a 52 week low of $184.76 and a 52 week high of $307.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $285.42 and its 200 day moving average is $270.64. The firm has a market cap of $9.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.28 and a beta of 1.11.

Primerica (NYSE:PRI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $5.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.81 by $0.87. Primerica had a net margin of 14.95% and a return on equity of 30.93%. The company had revenue of $774.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $745.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Primerica, Inc. will post 19.75 EPS for the current year.

Primerica Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. Primerica’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.50%.

Primerica announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, November 14th that permits the company to repurchase $450.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 4.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.