Primerica (NYSE:PRI) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.22 EPS

Primerica (NYSE:PRI - Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The financial services provider reported $5.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.81 by $0.22, Zacks reports. Primerica had a net margin of 14.95% and a return on equity of 30.93%.

Primerica Price Performance

PRI stock traded down $2.85 during trading on Friday, reaching $281.29. The company had a trading volume of 134,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 141,950. Primerica has a 52 week low of $184.76 and a 52 week high of $307.91. The company has a market cap of $9.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $282.45 and a 200 day moving average of $275.52.

Primerica Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $1.04 dividend. This is an increase from Primerica's previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Primerica's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.25%.

Primerica declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, November 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $450.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes 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 board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on PRI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Primerica from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Primerica from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Primerica in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $311.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Primerica from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Primerica from $308.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. 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 presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $310.43.

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.