Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.21

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share on Saturday, March 15th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%.

Premier has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.5% per year over the last three years. Premier has a dividend payout ratio of 63.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Premier to earn $1.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 70.6%.

Premier Stock Performance

NASDAQ PINC opened at $22.28 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $21.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.74. Premier has a one year low of $17.95 and a one year high of $23.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.38 and a beta of 0.43.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last posted 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. Premier had a return on equity of 10.74% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm had revenue of $248.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $232.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Premier will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PINC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. 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 research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.36.

Insider Activity

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

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.