Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $23.50.

PINC has been the subject of several analyst reports. SVB Leerink assumed coverage on Premier in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $22.50 target price for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $21.00 price objective (down previously from $27.00) on shares of Premier in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Leerink Partnrs reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Premier in a research note on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Premier from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th.

Premier Price Performance

PINC opened at $18.60 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $19.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.96. Premier has a twelve month low of $17.95 and a twelve month high of $28.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.06, a PEG ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 0.44.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.07. Premier had a net margin of 6.01% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The business had revenue of $342.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $312.92 million. Equities analysts expect that Premier will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 15th. Investors of record on Saturday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. Premier’s dividend payout ratio is 131.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Helen M. Boudreau sold 6,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.85, for a total value of $131,585.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $318,929.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Premier news, insider Andy Brailo sold 8,331 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.64, for a total value of $163,620.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 119,203 shares in the company, valued at $2,341,146.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Helen M. Boudreau sold 6,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.85, for a total transaction of $131,585.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $318,929.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,075 shares of company stock valued at $1,328,050 over the last quarter. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PINC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Premier by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,213,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,805,000 after purchasing an additional 199,702 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Premier by 65.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,609,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,438,000 after buying an additional 2,225,828 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Premier in the fourth quarter worth about $51,271,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Premier by 139.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Premier by 56.3% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,479,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,811,000 after acquiring an additional 532,918 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.