Insider Selling: Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) CEO Sells 17,415 Shares of Stock

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.16, for a total value of $403,331.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 520,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,060,060.48. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Premier Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PINC traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $22.72. The company had a trading volume of 27,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,345,404. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.79. Premier, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.95 and a fifty-two week high of $23.43.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $248.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.85 million. Premier had a return on equity of 10.74% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Premier, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Premier’s payout ratio is currently 61.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PINC. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Premier by 4.5% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 59,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,321,000 after acquiring an additional 2,548 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in Premier by 1.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 104,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,317,000 after acquiring an additional 1,497 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Premier during the first quarter worth $418,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Premier by 8,726.8% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 374,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,275,000 after acquiring an additional 370,192 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in Premier during the first quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PINC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com cut Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on 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 lifted their price target on Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Benchmark lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Premier has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.36.

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.