Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.36.

PINC has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Premier Price Performance

PINC stock opened at $21.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $21.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.51. Premier has a 12 month low of $17.95 and a 12 month high of $23.56.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. Premier had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 10.74%. The business had revenue of $248.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $232.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Premier will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. Premier’s payout ratio is 61.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.16, for a total value of $403,331.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 520,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,060,060.48. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Leigh Anderson sold 20,000 shares of Premier stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.88, for a total transaction of $437,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 111,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,444,149.16. The trade was a 15.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,325 shares of company stock worth $1,678,242 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Premier

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Premier by 384.3% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,311,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,828,000 after acquiring an additional 5,007,851 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Premier by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,951,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,105,000 after purchasing an additional 773,207 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Premier by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,303,000 after purchasing an additional 772,392 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Premier during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,138,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Premier by 145.5% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 381,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,128,000 after buying an additional 226,290 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

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.