Brokerages Set Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Target Price at $25.15

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.15.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PINC shares. StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays started coverage on Premier in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partnrs restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Premier in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, SVB Leerink started coverage on Premier in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $22.50 price target on the stock.

Institutional Trading of Premier

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PINC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Premier by 12.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,013,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,288,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597,067 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Premier by 108.0% in the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 350,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,535,000 after acquiring an additional 181,979 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS acquired a new position in shares of Premier in the third quarter worth $1,712,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Premier by 984.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 518,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,158,000 after acquiring an additional 471,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Premier by 151.3% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 59,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,337,000 after acquiring an additional 36,000 shares during the last quarter. 74.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Premier Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of PINC stock opened at $20.88 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $21.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.20. Premier has a twelve month low of $18.89 and a twelve month high of $33.43. The company has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. Premier had a return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 12.71%. The company had revenue of $334.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $338.55 million. Equities analysts forecast that Premier will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. Premier’s payout ratio is 60.43%.

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.