Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Declares $0.21 Quarterly Dividend

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share on Saturday, March 15th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%.

Premier has increased its dividend by an average of 2.5% annually over the last three years. Premier has a dividend payout ratio of 63.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Premier to earn $1.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 70.6%.

Premier Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PINC opened at $22.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.38 and a beta of 0.43. Premier has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $23.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $21.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.74.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $248.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.85 million. Premier had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 10.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Analysts expect that Premier will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Premier

In other news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.16, for a total value of $403,331.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 520,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,060,060.48. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Helen M. Boudreau sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.42, for a total transaction of $53,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,668 shares in the company, valued at $442,708.56. This trade represents a 10.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,425 shares of company stock valued at $1,320,242 over the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PINC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com cut Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, 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.