JLB & Associates Inc. Boosts Position in Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI)

JLB & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 883 shares during the period. JLB & Associates Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Primerica worth $5,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Primerica by 3.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 696,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $184,807,000 after purchasing an additional 25,951 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Primerica by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 20,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,428,000 after buying an additional 10,635 shares during the period. Sylvest Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Primerica in the 4th quarter valued at about $543,000. Oak Thistle LLC boosted its stake in shares of Primerica by 64.9% in the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 4,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,340,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Primerica during the third quarter worth about $3,710,000. 90.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on PRI. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Primerica in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $311.00 price objective on the stock. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Primerica from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Primerica from $308.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Primerica from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $311.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Primerica news, CEO Glenn J. Williams sold 3,000 shares of Primerica stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.74, for a total transaction of $845,220.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 33,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,388,140.28. The trade was a 8.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Primerica Stock Up 0.0 %

PRI opened at $280.48 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $281.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $276.58. Primerica, Inc. has a 52-week low of $184.76 and a 52-week high of $307.91. The company has a market cap of $9.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.40 and a beta of 1.11.

Primerica (NYSE:PRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $5.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Primerica, Inc. will post 20.6 EPS for the current year.

Primerica Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $1.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Primerica’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Primerica’s payout ratio is currently 26.18%.

Primerica declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, November 14th that allows the company to repurchase $450.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 4.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Primerica Company 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.