Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) Price Target Cut to $19.00 by Analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) had its price target lowered by Canaccord Genuity Group from $21.00 to $19.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Premier presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.50.

Premier Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Premier stock opened at $19.21 on Wednesday. Premier has a 12-month low of $17.95 and a 12-month high of $23.56. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.13 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $21.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.94.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. Premier had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 10.74%. The business had revenue of $248.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Premier will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Premier’s payout ratio is currently 61.77%.

Insider Transactions at Premier

In related news, Director Helen M. Boudreau sold 2,500 shares of Premier stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.42, for a total value of $53,550.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $442,708.56. The trade was a 10.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.16, for a total value of $403,331.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 520,728 shares in the company, valued at $12,060,060.48. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,425 shares of company stock worth $1,320,242. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in Premier by 61,750.0% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,235 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Premier by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Premier by 157.8% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Premier during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Premier during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. 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.