Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 199,702 Shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,213,088 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 199,702 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.86% of Premier worth $317,805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Premier by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 220,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,937,000 after purchasing an additional 17,212 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Premier by 139.3% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,121,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,017 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP raised its holdings in Premier by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 97,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,189,000 after purchasing an additional 6,169 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Premier by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 532,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,916,000 after buying an additional 126,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lingohr Asset Management GmbH grew its position in shares of Premier by 61.9% in the 4th quarter. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH now owns 31,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $706,000 after buying an additional 12,078 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PINC. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $21.00 target price (down previously from $27.00) on shares of Premier in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Premier from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. StockNews.com raised Premier from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Premier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Premier news, insider Andy Brailo sold 8,331 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.64, for a total transaction of $163,620.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 119,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,341,146.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, COO Leigh Anderson sold 20,000 shares of Premier stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.41, for a total transaction of $388,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 183,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,570,042.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Andy Brailo sold 8,331 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.64, for a total transaction of $163,620.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 119,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,341,146.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 69,075 shares of company stock valued at $1,328,050. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Premier Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:PINC opened at $18.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.87. Premier, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.95 and a 12 month high of $28.30.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $342.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $312.92 million. Premier had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 6.01%. Research analysts forecast that Premier, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 1st were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 131.25%.

About Premier

Premier, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a healthcare improvement company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Supply Chain Services and Performance Services. The Supply Chain Services segment offers its members with an access to a range of products and services, including medical and surgical products, pharmaceuticals, laboratory supplies, capital equipment, information technology, facilities and construction, and food and nutritional products, as well as purchased services, such as clinical engineering and workforce solutions.