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

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.81.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PINC shares. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Premier from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Benchmark cut Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com cut Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 21st.

Premier Price Performance

Shares of PINC stock opened at $19.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 0.41. Premier has a one year low of $17.95 and a one year high of $23.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $19.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.73.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $350.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $308.88 million. Premier had a return on equity of 11.69% and a net margin of 8.88%. Premier’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Premier will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 18,771 shares of Premier stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.12, for a total value of $396,443.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 543,927 shares in the company, valued at $11,487,738.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 18,771 shares of Premier stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.12, for a total value of $396,443.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 543,927 shares in the company, valued at $11,487,738.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Leigh Anderson sold 20,000 shares of Premier stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.62, for a total value of $392,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 131,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,584,091.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 154,212 shares of company stock worth $3,134,991. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Premier

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PINC. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Premier by 384.3% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,311,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,828,000 after purchasing an additional 5,007,851 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Premier by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,951,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,105,000 after buying an additional 773,207 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Premier by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,303,000 after buying an additional 772,392 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Premier by 8,726.8% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 374,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,275,000 after buying an additional 370,192 shares during the period. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Premier by 37.7% during the 1st quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 1,027,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,706,000 after buying an additional 281,131 shares during the period. 74.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.