Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reiterates “Market Perform” Rating for Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC)

Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $23.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $25.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.20% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on PFC. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Premier Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Premier Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st.

Premier Financial Stock Performance

Shares of PFC traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $20.14. The stock had a trading volume of 11,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 135,027. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $19.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $721.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.27. Premier Financial has a fifty-two week low of $13.60 and a fifty-two week high of $24.87.

Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. Premier Financial had a net margin of 23.67% and a return on equity of 9.19%. The business had revenue of $108.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.93 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Premier Financial will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Premier Financial

In related news, Director Donald P. Hileman sold 1,500 shares of Premier Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.07, for a total value of $30,105.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $628,411.77. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Premier Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Premier Financial by 333.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 268,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,575,000 after buying an additional 206,258 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Premier Financial by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,016,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,347,000 after buying an additional 124,126 shares during the last quarter. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Premier Financial by 153.4% during the 4th quarter. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. now owns 198,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,789,000 after buying an additional 120,299 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Premier Financial by 251.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 113,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,943,000 after buying an additional 81,457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Premier Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $1,201,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.14% of the company’s stock.

Premier Financial Company 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.