Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.36.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PINC. Benchmark lowered shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays raised their price target on Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 18,736 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.05, for a total transaction of $375,656.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 559,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,216,110.35. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John T. Bigalke sold 1,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total value of $25,207.84. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,846 shares in the company, valued at $529,142.74. This represents a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 86,451 shares of company stock valued at $1,783,989 over the last quarter. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Premier

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PINC. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 5,007,851 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 buying an additional 773,207 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Premier by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,303,000 after acquiring an additional 772,392 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Premier in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,138,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in shares of Premier by 145.5% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 381,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,128,000 after purchasing an additional 226,290 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Premier Stock Performance

NASDAQ PINC opened at $21.61 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $21.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.06. The company has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.89, a P/E/G ratio of 9.96 and a beta of 0.42. Premier has a one year low of $17.95 and a one year high of $23.56.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $248.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $232.85 million. Premier had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 10.74%. Premier’s quarterly revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Premier will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.76%.

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.