Brokerages Set Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) PT at $25.15

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $25.15.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PINC shares. Leerink Partnrs reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Premier in a report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, SVB Leerink started coverage on Premier in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $22.50 price objective for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Premier

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Premier by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,013,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,288,000 after buying an additional 1,597,067 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Premier by 108.0% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 350,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,535,000 after purchasing an additional 181,979 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS acquired a new stake in shares of Premier during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,712,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Premier by 984.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 518,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,158,000 after purchasing an additional 471,131 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of Premier by 151.3% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 59,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,337,000 after purchasing an additional 36,000 shares during the last quarter. 74.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Premier Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PINC opened at $20.53 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 14.77, a P/E/G ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 0.39. Premier has a 12 month low of $18.89 and a 12 month high of $28.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The business has a 50-day moving average of $21.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.21.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $334.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $338.55 million. Premier had a net margin of 12.71% and a return on equity of 11.60%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Premier will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 1st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.43%.

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.