Insider Selling: Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) CEO Sells 1,264 Shares of Stock

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 1,264 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total value of $25,292.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 558,143 shares in the company, valued at $11,168,441.43. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Premier Price Performance

Shares of PINC stock traded down $0.27 on Tuesday, hitting $19.73. 212,137 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,436,923. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.25, a PEG ratio of 9.23 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.96. Premier, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.95 and a 52 week high of $23.01.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 20th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $350.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.88 million. Premier had a return on equity of 11.69% and a net margin of 8.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Premier, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Premier’s payout ratio is currently 131.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Premier

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in Premier by 711.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 163,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,645,000 after buying an additional 142,907 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Premier by 79.5% in the first quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 264,696 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,850,000 after purchasing an additional 117,242 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in Premier by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 532,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,916,000 after purchasing an additional 126,640 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Premier during the first quarter valued at $1,686,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Premier by 1,496.5% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 94,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,094,000 after purchasing an additional 88,800 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on PINC. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Premier currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.94.

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.