Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Sells 4,538 Shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lessened its position in shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC – Get Rating) by 28.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,611 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,538 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Premier were worth $406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PINC. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Premier by 25.0% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 5,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Premier by 0.8% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 806,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,705,000 after purchasing an additional 6,673 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Premier by 12.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 15,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Premier by 3,921.0% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 6,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Premier by 1,174.7% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 12,240 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Credit Suisse Group raised shares of Premier from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 27th. SVB Leerink decreased their price target on shares of Premier from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Premier from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Premier from $46.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Premier from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Premier presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.22.

Premier Stock Down 0.4 %

Premier stock opened at $26.60 on Tuesday. Premier, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.91 and a fifty-two week high of $38.98. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a PE ratio of 17.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Premier Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 31st. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.55%.

Premier Company Profile

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Premier, Inc engages in the provision of healthcare improvement solutions. It operates through the Supply Chain Services and Performance Services segments. The Supply Chain Services segment includes healthcare group purchasing organization (GPO) programs in the United States, supply chain co-management, and direct sourcing activities.