Great West Life Assurance Co. Can Buys New Shares in Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI)

Great West Life Assurance Co. Can bought a new stake in shares of Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI – Get Rating) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 27,682 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,420,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in Primerica by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 24,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Primerica by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 4,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its stake in Primerica by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Primerica by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 112,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,393,000 after purchasing an additional 23,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Primerica by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 76,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,144,000 after purchasing an additional 9,440 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Primerica

In other Primerica news, CEO Glenn J. Williams sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.38, for a total transaction of $569,520.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,719,131.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Primerica news, CEO Glenn J. Williams sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.38, for a total transaction of $569,520.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,719,131.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Peter W. Schneider sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.19, for a total transaction of $508,165.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 15,752 shares in the company, valued at $2,287,032.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,295,890 over the last three months. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair lowered shares of Primerica from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Primerica from $137.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Primerica from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.25.

Primerica Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PRI opened at $152.22 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $143.79 and its 200 day moving average is $135.01. The company has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.47 and a beta of 1.20. Primerica, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $110.22 and a fifty-two week high of $159.47.

Primerica (NYSE:PRI – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 8th. The financial services provider reported $3.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $673.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $675.99 million. Primerica had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 22.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Primerica, Inc. will post 10.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Primerica announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, November 17th that allows the company to buyback $375.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Primerica Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 22nd were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 21st. Primerica’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.03%.

Primerica Profile

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Primerica, Inc engages in the provision of financial products to middle-income households. It operates through the following segments: Term Life Insurance, Investment and Savings Products, and Corporate and Other Distributed Products. The Term Life Insurance segment includes underwriting profits in the in-force book of term life insurance policies.