Michael J. Alkire Sells 17,900 Shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Stock

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $358,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 540,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,804,860. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Premier Stock Up 1.4 %

PINC opened at $20.26 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $19.89 and a 200 day moving average of $19.75. Premier, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.95 and a 52-week high of $23.01. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 0.41.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 11.69%. The firm had revenue of $350.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $308.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Premier, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Premier’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PINC. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new stake in Premier during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Premier by 137.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Premier by 265.2% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,554 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Premier by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Premier during the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Benchmark lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on Premier from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.81.

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.