10,500 Shares in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Bought by Everence Capital Management Inc.

Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 10,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Premier by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,013,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,288,000 after purchasing an additional 1,597,067 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Premier by 108.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 350,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,535,000 after acquiring an additional 181,979 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS acquired a new position in shares of Premier during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,712,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Premier by 984.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 518,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,158,000 after acquiring an additional 471,131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Premier by 267.5% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 174,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 126,662 shares during the period. 74.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Leerink Partnrs reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Premier in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Barclays initiated coverage on Premier in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. SVB Leerink initiated coverage on Premier in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $22.50 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.15.

Premier Stock Performance

Shares of PINC stock opened at $20.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.18. Premier, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.89 and a 12-month high of $33.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. Premier had a return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 12.71%. The business had revenue of $334.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $338.55 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Premier, Inc. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Premier’s payout ratio is currently 60.43%.

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.