Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 176 Shares of Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its stake in shares of Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 176 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Primerica were worth $488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Primerica by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Primerica by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in Primerica by 56.8% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Primerica by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Primerica by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Primerica from $313.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Primerica from $313.00 to $304.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Primerica in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $311.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Primerica from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Primerica from $314.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Six 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $309.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Nicholas Adam Jendusa sold 234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.15, for a total transaction of $65,555.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,030. This represents a 53.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Peter W. Schneider sold 2,000 shares of Primerica stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.90, for a total value of $565,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 13,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,762,852.90. This represents a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,234 shares of company stock worth $1,476,575. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Primerica Price Performance

PRI stock opened at $290.50 on Wednesday. Primerica, Inc. has a 1-year low of $184.76 and a 1-year high of $307.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $286.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.23. The company has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13 and a beta of 1.12.

Primerica (NYSE:PRI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $5.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.81 by $0.22. Primerica had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 31.11%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Primerica, Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Primerica Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $1.04 dividend. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is a boost from Primerica’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Primerica’s payout ratio is 30.25%.

Primerica Profile

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.