Primerica Inc., the insurance firm that was utilized by Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill to establish the giant Citigroup Inc., recorded a substantial jump during its first ever trading day after convincing buyers to pay more than the predicted price range for its shares in an Initial Public Offering worth $320 Million.

Primerica is based in Duluth, Georgia and is the distributor of consumer-finance products which range from term-life insurance to mutual funds. The company's shares rose by as much as 30% to $19.51 on the New York Stock Exchange by the time the clock struck 10:29 am.

Yesterday, in the IPO, the company sold a total of some 21.36 million shares, priced at $15 a piece, as was revealed by the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bloomberg data. In all, the IPO ended up raising
27% more than what Primerica was initially looking for when it offered 18 million shares at $12-$14.

"We're starting to see the market open up. It's a reflection that the market at this point can support IPOs. It's also a confirmation that the bull market that's been in place in the past year is alive and well", said Frederic Dickson, the Lake Oswego, Oregon-based Chief Market Strategist at D. A. Davidson & Co.

The better-than-expected performance of Primerica shares ended up nudging the whole market higher.