Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Grows Stock Position in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 19.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,898 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,020 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.05% of Premier worth $1,362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Premier by 65.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,609,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225,828 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Premier by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,013,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,288,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597,067 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Premier by 7,070.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 633,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,614,000 after acquiring an additional 624,357 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $31,811,000 after acquiring an additional 532,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Premier by 61.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,240,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,679,000 after acquiring an additional 471,683 shares in the last quarter. 74.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. SVB Leerink assumed coverage on Premier in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $22.50 price target on the stock. Barclays started coverage on Premier in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Premier in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Premier presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.15.

Premier Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:PINC opened at $20.81 on Friday. Premier, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.89 and a 1 year high of $33.58. The stock has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.97, a PEG ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a fifty day moving average of $21.27 and a 200-day moving average of $21.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. Premier had a return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 12.71%. The company had revenue of $334.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $338.55 million. Equities analysts predict that Premier, Inc. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

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.