Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Receives $21.94 Consensus PT from Analysts

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.94.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PINC shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. Benchmark cut Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on Premier from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 21st.

Premier Trading Down 3.4 %

Premier stock opened at $19.32 on Wednesday. Premier has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $23.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.19, a PEG ratio of 9.23 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $20.15 and a 200-day moving average of $19.94.

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

Premier Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 1st were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. Premier’s dividend payout ratio is currently 131.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Andy Brailo sold 4,390 shares of Premier stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.51, for a total transaction of $90,038.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 104,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,141,449.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Andy Brailo sold 4,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.51, for a total transaction of $90,038.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 104,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,141,449.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 18,771 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 543,927 shares in the company, valued at $11,487,738.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 166,312 shares of company stock valued at $3,386,850 over the last quarter. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Premier

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Premier by 384.3% during the 2nd 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. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Premier during the 4th quarter worth $51,271,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Premier by 139.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,121,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,017 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Premier by 14.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,951,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,105,000 after purchasing an additional 773,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Premier by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,303,000 after acquiring an additional 772,392 shares during the period. 74.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.