GSA Capital Partners LLP Sells 14,796 Shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

GSA Capital Partners LLP lowered its stake in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 42.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,060 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,796 shares during the quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in Premier were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PINC. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Premier by 384.3% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,311,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,828,000 after purchasing an additional 5,007,851 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Premier by 14.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,951,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,105,000 after acquiring an additional 773,207 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Premier by 60.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,303,000 after purchasing an additional 772,392 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Premier by 6.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,241,000 after purchasing an additional 98,544 shares during the period. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP raised its stake in Premier by 37.7% during the first quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 1,027,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,706,000 after acquiring an additional 281,131 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Premier

In related news, General Counsel David L. Klatsky sold 1,319 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.96, for a total transaction of $26,327.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 102,467 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,241.32. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jody R. Davids sold 13,600 shares of Premier stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.48, for a total value of $278,528.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $285,327.36. This trade represents a 49.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 142,856 shares of company stock valued at $2,941,879. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on PINC shares. Benchmark downgraded shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays raised their target price on Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.36.

Premier Trading Up 0.9 %

PINC opened at $22.42 on Friday. Premier, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.95 and a 12-month high of $23.43. The company has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.03 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.84.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $248.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $232.85 million. Premier had a return on equity of 10.74% and a net margin of 11.41%. Premier’s revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Premier, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.76%.

Premier Profile

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.