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

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 8th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share on Sunday, September 15th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th.

Premier has raised its dividend payment by an average of 30.3% annually over the last three years. Premier has a dividend payout ratio of 63.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Premier to earn $2.00 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 42.0%.

Premier Price Performance

NASDAQ PINC opened at $19.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Premier has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $24.27. The company has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of 31.02, a PEG ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.14.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.25. Premier had a net margin of 6.01% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The business had revenue of $350.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Premier will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Premier

In other news, General Counsel David L. Klatsky sold 1,319 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.96, for a total transaction of $26,327.24. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 102,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,241.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Craig S. Mckasson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 278,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,562,200. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel David L. Klatsky sold 1,319 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.96, for a total value of $26,327.24. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 102,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,241.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,429 shares of company stock worth $2,245,068 over the last ninety days. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PINC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group cut Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Premier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Benchmark downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Premier from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Premier from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Premier presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.19.

Premier Company 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.