Oak Thistle LLC Takes Position in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 13,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PINC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Premier in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,271,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Premier by 65.8% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,609,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,438,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,828 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Premier by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,013,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,288,000 after buying an additional 1,597,067 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Premier by 139.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,121,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,441,000 after buying an additional 1,235,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Premier by 56.3% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,479,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,811,000 after buying an additional 532,918 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PINC shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $21.00 price objective (down previously from $27.00) on shares of Premier in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Premier from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Premier from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of 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. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Premier from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Premier presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.50.

Premier Price Performance

PINC stock traded down $0.09 on Monday, hitting $18.58. 1,346,942 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,642,601. Premier, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.95 and a 1-year high of $28.30. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.03, a P/E/G ratio of 6.28 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.34 and a 200-day moving average of $20.83. 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 (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.07. Premier had a net margin of 6.01% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The business had revenue of $342.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $312.92 million. On average, analysts forecast that Premier, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 15th. Investors of record on Saturday, June 1st were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.52%. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 131.25%.

Insider Activity at Premier

In related news, insider Andy Brailo sold 8,331 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.64, for a total value of $163,620.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 119,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,341,146.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Premier news, insider Andy Brailo sold 8,331 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.64, for a total value of $163,620.84. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 119,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,341,146.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Helen M. Boudreau sold 6,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.85, for a total transaction of $131,585.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $318,929.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 69,075 shares of company stock worth $1,328,050. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.