Premier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:PFC) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.31

Premier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:PFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.31 per share on Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.35%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd.

Premier Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 12.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Premier Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 52.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Premier Financial to earn $2.35 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.8%.

Premier Financial Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of PFC opened at $19.54 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Premier Financial has a one year low of $13.60 and a one year high of $24.87. The company has a market cap of $699.53 million, a P/E ratio of 6.30 and a beta of 1.27.

Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.50 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 firm had revenue of $108.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.93 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Premier Financial will post 2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Premier Financial news, Director Donald P. Hileman sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.07, for a total transaction of $30,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $628,411.77. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Premier Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. 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 report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $23.00 price target (down previously from $25.00) on shares of Premier Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 25th.

About Premier Financial

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.