Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday.

PINC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Benchmark cut Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.44.

Premier Stock Down 1.1 %

PINC stock opened at $23.08 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $20.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 0.40. Premier has a twelve month low of $17.95 and a twelve month high of $23.43.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $248.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.85 million. Premier had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 11.69%. The company’s revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Premier will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Premier’s payout ratio is 81.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 19,362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.83, for a total transaction of $403,310.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 578,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,042,718.69. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,900 shares of Premier stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $358,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 540,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,804,860. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 19,362 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.83, for a total value of $403,310.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 578,143 shares in the company, valued at $12,042,718.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,441 shares of company stock valued at $2,738,548 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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