Piper Sandler Cuts Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) Price Target to $22.00

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) had its price objective cut by analysts at Piper Sandler from $24.00 to $22.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler’s target price points to a potential upside of 12.30% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on PINC. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $27.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective (down previously from $27.00) on shares of Premier in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Premier from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, SVB Leerink initiated coverage on Premier in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $22.50 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Premier currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.50.

Premier Stock Performance

NASDAQ PINC traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $19.59. The stock had a trading volume of 1,270,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,548,574. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.15 and a 200 day moving average of $21.22. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 0.39. Premier has a 52-week low of $18.65 and a 52-week high of $28.30. 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 issued its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 12.71%. Sell-side analysts predict that Premier will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Premier

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Premier by 12.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,013,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,288,000 after purchasing an additional 1,597,067 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Premier by 108.0% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 350,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,535,000 after acquiring an additional 181,979 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS purchased a new position in Premier in the third quarter valued at $1,712,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Premier by 151.3% during 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 in the last quarter. 74.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.