Leigh Anderson Sells 20,000 Shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Stock

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) COO Leigh Anderson sold 20,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 131,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,584,091.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Premier Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PINC traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $19.34. The stock had a trading volume of 120,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,432,170. Premier, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.95 and a fifty-two week high of $23.01. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.94.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.25. Premier had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 11.69%. The company had revenue of $350.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Premier, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 1st were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Premier’s payout ratio is presently 131.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PINC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Benchmark downgraded shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target 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. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Premier from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.81.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Premier

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Premier by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 22,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 2,352 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Premier by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 290,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,487,000 after acquiring an additional 26,666 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Premier by 141.2% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 1,159 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in Premier by 711.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 163,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,645,000 after purchasing an additional 142,907 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 12,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

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.