Kera Capital Partners Inc. Purchases Shares of 11,685 Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 11,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Premier by 14.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,951,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,105,000 after buying an additional 773,207 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Premier by 109.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 468,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,933,000 after buying an additional 245,239 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in Premier by 145.5% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 381,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,128,000 after acquiring an additional 226,290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its position in Premier by 86.3% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 349,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,497,000 after acquiring an additional 161,720 shares during the last quarter. 74.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PINC shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company 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 research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, Premier presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.16, for a total value of $403,331.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 520,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,060,060.48. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John T. Bigalke sold 1,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total transaction of $25,207.84. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $529,142.74. This represents a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 59,425 shares of company stock valued at $1,320,242. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Premier Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ PINC opened at $22.43 on Friday. Premier, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.95 and a 12 month high of $23.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $21.94 and a 200-day moving average of $20.65. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.49 and a beta of 0.43.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $248.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $232.85 million. Premier had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 10.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Premier, Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Premier’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.77%.

Premier 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.