Michael J. Alkire Sells 1,264 Shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Stock

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 1,264 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total transaction of $25,292.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 558,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,168,441.43. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Premier Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PINC opened at $19.39 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.94. The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.30, a P/E/G ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 0.40. Premier, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $23.01.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $350.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.88 million. Premier had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 11.69%. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Premier, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. Premier’s dividend payout ratio is currently 131.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on PINC shares. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Benchmark downgraded shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Premier currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.81.

Institutional Trading of Premier

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PINC. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Premier by 384.3% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,311,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,828,000 after purchasing an additional 5,007,851 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Premier by 139.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,121,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,017 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Premier by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,951,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,105,000 after purchasing an additional 773,207 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Premier by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,303,000 after purchasing an additional 772,392 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its position 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.

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.