Michael J. Alkire Sells 1,264 Shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Stock

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC - Get Free Report) CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 1,264 shares of Premier stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total transaction of $25,292.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 558,143 shares in the company, valued at $11,168,441.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Premier Price Performance

NASDAQ:PINC traded down $0.68 on Tuesday, hitting $19.32. 1,288,424 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,442,618. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $20.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.94. Premier, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.95 and a 52 week high of $23.01. The company has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.23 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Premier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 1st were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. Premier's payout ratio is 131.25%.

Institutional Trading of Premier

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PINC. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in shares of Premier in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Premier by 50.0% in the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,951 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Premier by 141.2% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,980 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,159 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Premier by 265.2% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,140 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,554 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Premier during the second quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PINC. Benchmark lowered Premier from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Premier from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Premier from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $21.94.

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.