Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC Has $2.51 Million Stake in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 57.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 125,438 shares of the company’s stock after selling 171,945 shares during the quarter. Premier comprises 1.3% of Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Premier were worth $2,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new stake in Premier in 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 purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Premier by 50.0% during the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Premier by 265.2% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Premier in the 2nd quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on PINC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com cut Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Benchmark lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.81.

Premier Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ PINC traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $19.92. The company had a trading volume of 297,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,384,149. Premier, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $23.01. The company has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.17, a P/E/G ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.74.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.25. Premier had a return on equity of 11.69% and a net margin of 8.88%. 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 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 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 1st were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Premier’s payout ratio is 131.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,900 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 540,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,804,860. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $358,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 540,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,804,860. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Leigh Anderson sold 20,000 shares of Premier stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.62, for a total transaction of $392,400.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 131,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,584,091.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 171,587 shares of company stock worth $3,484,750 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Premier 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.