Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) Shares Gap Down to $20.50

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $20.50, but opened at $19.96. Premier shares last traded at $20.12, with a volume of 81,574 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com raised Premier from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Benchmark cut Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Premier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $21.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Premier presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.19.

Premier Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.03, a PEG ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.16.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 20th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.25. Premier had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 6.01%. The firm had revenue of $350.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.88 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Premier, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. Premier’s payout ratio is presently 131.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Craig S. Mckasson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 278,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,562,200. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Craig S. Mckasson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 278,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,562,200. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 18,771 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.12, for a total transaction of $396,443.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 543,927 shares in the company, valued at $11,487,738.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 125,428 shares of company stock valued at $2,471,783. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Premier

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PINC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Premier by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,213,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,805,000 after buying an additional 199,702 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Premier by 384.3% in the 2nd 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 boosted 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 worth $111,105,000 after purchasing an additional 773,207 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Premier during the 4th quarter worth about $51,271,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Premier by 139.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,121,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,235,017 shares during the last quarter. 74.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.