Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,741,784 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 97,458 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.74% of Premier worth $34,836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Premier by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Premier in the second quarter worth $47,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Premier by 37.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Premier in the second quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Premier by 356,500.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 3,565 shares in the last quarter. 74.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Premier

In other news, COO Leigh Anderson sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.62, for a total transaction of $392,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 131,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,584,091.34. This represents a 13.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.16, for a total value of $403,331.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 520,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,060,060.48. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 106,705 shares of company stock valued at $2,195,790. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on PINC. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Benchmark downgraded shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.36.

Premier Stock Performance

PINC opened at $22.19 on Wednesday. Premier, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.95 and a twelve month high of $23.56. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.99. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 0.42.

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

Premier Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Premier’s dividend payout ratio is 61.77%.

Premier Company 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.