Piper Sandler Increases Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) Price Target to $22.00

Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) had its price objective boosted by Piper Sandler from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.39% from the company’s previous close.

PFC has been the subject of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Premier Financial from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Hovde Group raised Premier Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.50 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st.

Premier Financial Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of PFC opened at $19.75 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $707.13 million, a P/E ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 1.27. Premier Financial has a 12-month low of $13.60 and a 12-month high of $24.87. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $19.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Premier Financial (NASDAQ:PFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (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 net margin of 23.67% and a return on equity of 9.19%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Premier Financial will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Premier Financial

In other news, Director Donald P. Hileman sold 1,500 shares of the business’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 completion of 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Premier Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PFC. Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of Premier Financial by 766.2% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 1,540 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Premier Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV acquired a new position in Premier Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Premier Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in Premier Financial by 480.0% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 5,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 4,358 shares in the last quarter. 66.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.