Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

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

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Benchmark cut shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.81.

Premier Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ PINC opened at $20.11 on Monday. Premier has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $23.01. The company has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.68.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $350.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Premier will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Premier

In other Premier news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,900 shares of Premier 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 540,243 shares in the company, valued at $10,804,860. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Premier news, 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 value of $392,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 131,707 shares in the company, valued at $2,584,091.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,900 shares of Premier stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 154,212 shares of company stock worth $3,134,991 over the last ninety days. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Premier

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PINC. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Premier by 384.3% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,311,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,828,000 after purchasing an additional 5,007,851 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Premier by 14.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,951,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,105,000 after purchasing an additional 773,207 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Premier by 60.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,303,000 after purchasing an additional 772,392 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Premier by 8,726.8% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 374,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,275,000 after purchasing an additional 370,192 shares during the period. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Premier by 37.7% in the first quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 1,027,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,706,000 after purchasing an additional 281,131 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

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.