HighTower Advisors LLC Buys 6,990 Shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 27.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 32,430 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,990 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Premier were worth $660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PINC. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Premier by 137.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Premier in the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Premier by 37.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Premier during the second quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Premier by 356,500.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 3,565 shares in the last quarter. 74.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Premier Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of PINC opened at $21.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.82 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $21.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.21. Premier, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $23.56.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. Premier had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 10.74%. The business had revenue of $248.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. Premier’s quarterly revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Premier, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Premier’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.76%.

Insider Activity at Premier

In other Premier news, COO Leigh Anderson sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.62, for a total value of $392,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 131,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,584,091.34. The trade was a 13.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 18,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.80, for a total value of $400,553.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 502,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,951,317.20. This represents a 3.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 94,825 shares of company stock worth $1,980,442 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PINC. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Benchmark downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.36.

About Premier

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.