New York State Common Retirement Fund Acquires 16,819 Shares of Premier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:PFC)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Premier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:PFC) by 26.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,819 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,819 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.22% of Premier Financial worth $1,924,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFC. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in shares of Premier Financial by 766.2% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,540 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in shares of Premier Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Premier Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in shares of Premier Financial by 480.0% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 5,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 4,358 shares during the period. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Premier Financial in the third quarter worth $171,000. Institutional investors own 66.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Premier Financial

In other news, Director Donald P. Hileman sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.07, for a total transaction of $30,105.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $628,411.77. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PFC. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Premier Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (down previously from $25.00) on shares of Premier Financial in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Hovde Group raised shares of Premier Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.50 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st.

Premier Financial Stock Up 0.8 %

PFC opened at $20.92 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.61. Premier Financial Corp. has a 52 week low of $13.60 and a 52 week high of $24.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $749.15 million, a PE ratio of 6.82 and a beta of 1.27.

Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $108.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.93 million. Premier Financial had a return on equity of 9.19% and a net margin of 23.67%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Premier Financial Corp. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Premier Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. Premier Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.00%.

Premier Financial Profile

Premier Financial Corp., through its subsidiaries, provides various banking services. It offers demand, checking, money market, and savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposits and certificates of deposit account registry service; and investment products. The company also provides residential and commercial real estate, commercial, construction, home improvement and home equity, installment, and consumer loans.