UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Trims Holdings in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 330,459 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,274 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned 0.33% of Premier worth $6,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Premier by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Premier during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Premier by 37.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 721 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Premier during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Premier by 356,500.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 3,565 shares during the last quarter. 74.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Premier

In other news, CFO Craig S. Mckasson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.41, for a total value of $204,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 263,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,382,096.59. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John T. Bigalke sold 1,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $529,142.74. This represents a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 86,451 shares of company stock valued at $1,783,989. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PINC shares. Barclays upped their price target on Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Benchmark lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Premier currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.36.

Premier Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PINC opened at $21.77 on Wednesday. Premier, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.95 and a 1-year high of $23.56. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $21.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 0.42.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $232.85 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Premier, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Premier’s payout ratio is 61.77%.

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.