Premier, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.21 (NASDAQ:PINC)

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 1st will be given a dividend of 0.21 per share on Saturday, June 15th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st.

Premier has raised its dividend by an average of 30.3% per year over the last three years. Premier has a dividend payout ratio of 35.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Premier to earn $2.11 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.8%.

Premier Stock Up 0.7 %

Premier stock traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $20.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,195,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,103,782. Premier has a fifty-two week low of $18.89 and a fifty-two week high of $33.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.08, a P/E/G ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.18.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. Premier had a return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 12.71%. The company had revenue of $334.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $338.55 million. On average, research analysts expect that Premier will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PINC shares. StockNews.com lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. SVB Leerink started coverage on Premier in a report on Monday, February 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $22.50 price objective on the stock. Barclays started coverage on Premier in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partnrs reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Premier in a report on Monday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.15.

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.