AQR Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 6.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,590,926 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,544 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.52% of Premier worth $29,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Premier by 384.3% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,311,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,828,000 after buying an additional 5,007,851 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Premier by 139.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,121,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,235,017 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Premier by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,951,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,105,000 after acquiring an additional 773,207 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Premier by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,303,000 after acquiring an additional 772,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Premier by 8,726.8% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 374,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,275,000 after purchasing an additional 370,192 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Craig S. Mckasson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.41, for a total transaction of $204,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 263,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,382,096.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Craig S. Mckasson sold 10,000 shares of Premier stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.41, for a total transaction of $204,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 263,699 shares in the company, valued at $5,382,096.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 2,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $52,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 580,073 shares in the company, valued at $11,601,460. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 146,312 shares of company stock worth $2,985,900. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PINC. Benchmark downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Premier currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.94.

Premier Stock Performance

NASDAQ PINC opened at $19.99 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.23, a PEG ratio of 9.23 and a beta of 0.40. Premier, Inc. has a one year low of $17.95 and a one year high of $23.01. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $20.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.96.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The company reported $0.69 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 the consensus estimate of $308.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Premier, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Premier’s payout ratio is 131.25%.

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.