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

Premier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:PFC) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given 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 6.21%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd.

Premier Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 12.1% per year 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% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Premier Financial to earn $2.31 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 53.7%.

Premier Financial Price Performance

PFC stock traded down $0.41 during trading on Thursday, reaching $19.97. 8,271 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 134,986. Premier Financial has a twelve month low of $13.60 and a twelve month high of $24.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $714.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.40.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Premier Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Hovde Group raised Premier Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $23.00 target price (down from $25.00) on shares of Premier Financial in a research report on Thursday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Donald P. Hileman sold 1,500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.22% of the company’s stock.

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.