Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) CEO Michael J. Alkire Sells 19,362 Shares

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 19,362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.83, for a total transaction of $403,310.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 578,143 shares in the company, valued at $12,042,718.69. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Premier Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:PINC opened at $20.44 on Friday. Premier, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.95 and a 52-week high of $23.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.11. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of 31.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.79 and a beta of 0.40.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $350.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $308.88 million. Premier had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 11.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Premier, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Premier’s payout ratio is currently 131.25%.

Institutional Trading of Premier

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Premier by 86.3% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 349,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 161,720 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Premier by 29.6% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 50,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $952,000 after buying an additional 11,645 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Premier during the second quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Premier during the second quarter worth $468,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Premier by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,241,000 after buying an additional 98,544 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PINC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Premier from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Benchmark downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. 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 research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Premier from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Premier currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.19.

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.