Public Sector Pension Investment Board Lowers Stock Holdings in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board reduced its stake in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 222,381 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,200 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned 0.22% of Premier worth $4,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PINC. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Premier by 137.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Premier by 265.2% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,554 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Premier in the second quarter worth about $47,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Premier by 37.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Premier during the 2nd quarter valued at about $56,000. 74.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PINC shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Benchmark lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Premier news, insider Andy Brailo sold 4,390 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 104,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,141,449.10. This trade represents a 4.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.16, for a total transaction of $403,331.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 520,728 shares in the company, valued at $12,060,060.48. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 126,067 shares of company stock valued at $2,599,100. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Premier Stock Performance

Premier stock opened at $22.83 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 16.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.97. Premier, Inc. has a one year low of $17.95 and a one year high of $23.56.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. Premier had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 10.74%. The firm had revenue of $248.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.85 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. Premier’s revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Premier, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.77%.

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.