Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 632,825 Shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Pacer Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,355,220 shares of the company’s stock after selling 632,825 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned about 0.06% of Premier worth $113,531,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PINC. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Premier by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,973,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,472,000 after acquiring an additional 32,193 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Premier by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,741,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,836,000 after buying an additional 97,458 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Premier by 6.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,241,000 after buying an additional 98,544 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Premier by 109.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 468,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,933,000 after acquiring an additional 245,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Premier by 27.7% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 428,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,562,000 after acquiring an additional 92,766 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PINC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays lifted 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. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Premier presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.36.

Premier Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PINC opened at $22.39 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.46 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $21.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.80. Premier, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.95 and a 1-year high of $23.56.

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

Premier Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 15th. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Premier’s payout ratio is currently 61.77%.

Insider Activity at Premier

In other Premier news, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,415 shares of Premier stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.16, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John T. Bigalke sold 1,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total value of $25,207.84. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $529,142.74. This represents a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 59,425 shares of company stock valued at $1,320,242. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.