StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Premier (NASDAQ:PINC)

Posted by Jeff Wilder on Mar 19th, 2023

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Premier (NASDAQ:PINC – Get Rating) in a research note published on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Premier from $41.00 to $30.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 18th. SVB Leerink reduced their price target on shares of Premier from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group upgraded shares of Premier from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $40.70.

Premier Stock Performance

Shares of Premier stock opened at $31.75 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.74 and a 200-day moving average of $33.41. Premier has a 1-year low of $30.62 and a 1-year high of $38.98.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.11. Premier had a net margin of 12.85% and a return on equity of 11.54%. The firm had revenue of $359.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $358.36 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Premier will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 28th. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in shares of Premier in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Premier by 74.5% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Premier in the third quarter valued at $43,000. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Premier by 48.5% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,362 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of Premier by 397.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares in the last quarter. 66.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Premier Company Profile

(Get Rating)

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.