Piper Sandler Cuts Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) Price Target to $19.00

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) had its target price reduced by Piper Sandler from $21.00 to $19.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on PINC. StockNews.com lowered shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Premier currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.50.

Premier Stock Performance

Shares of PINC opened at $18.76 on Wednesday. Premier has a twelve month low of $17.95 and a twelve month high of $23.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.92. The firm has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.79 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Premier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 15th. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. Premier’s payout ratio is 61.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Helen M. Boudreau sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.42, for a total transaction of $53,550.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $442,708.56. The trade was a 10.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John T. Bigalke sold 1,136 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 23,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $529,142.74. The trade was a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 59,425 shares of company stock worth $1,320,242. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Premier

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 2.4% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 20,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 137.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 157.8% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 7.1% in the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 11,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. 74.41% of the stock is currently 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.