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

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 8th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share on Sunday, September 15th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th.

Premier has raised its dividend payment by an average of 30.3% per year over the last three years. Premier has a dividend payout ratio of 37.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Premier to earn $2.00 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 42.0%.

Premier Price Performance

NASDAQ:PINC traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $19.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 625,823 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,504,130. Premier has a fifty-two week low of $17.95 and a fifty-two week high of $27.37. The company has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.22, a P/E/G ratio of 6.90 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.15 and a 200-day moving average of $20.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.07. Premier had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 6.01%. The firm had revenue of $342.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $312.92 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Premier will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PINC. StockNews.com raised shares of Premier from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Premier from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Premier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $21.00 price target (down from $27.00) on shares of Premier in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Premier presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel David L. Klatsky sold 13,339 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.55, for a total value of $247,438.45. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 92,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,706,618.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Premier news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 18,771 shares of Premier stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.12, for a total value of $396,443.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 543,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,487,738.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel David L. Klatsky sold 13,339 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.55, for a total transaction of $247,438.45. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 92,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,706,618.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 157,846 shares of company stock worth $3,099,352. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

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.