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

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share on Sunday, December 15th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th.

Premier has raised its dividend payment by an average of 30.3% annually over the last three years. Premier has a payout ratio of 69.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Premier to earn $0.99 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 84.8%.

Premier Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of PINC traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $19.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 510,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,372,808. Premier has a one year low of $17.95 and a one year high of $23.01. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $19.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 0.41.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.25. Premier had a return on equity of 11.69% and a net margin of 8.88%. The company had revenue of $350.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Premier will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Premier from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Benchmark downgraded Premier from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $21.81.

Insider Activity at Premier

In other news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 18,771 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.12, for a total value of $396,443.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 543,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,487,738.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 19,362 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.83, for a total transaction of $403,310.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 578,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,042,718.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 18,771 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.12, for a total value of $396,443.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 543,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,487,738.24. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 154,212 shares of company stock valued at $3,134,991 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company's stock.

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.