Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 29,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $628,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of Premier by 61,750.0% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,235 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Premier by 137.6% during 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. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Premier in the third quarter worth $39,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Premier by 576.7% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,857 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in Premier by 356,500.0% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PINC. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Premier currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.36.

Insider Activity at Premier

In other Premier news, Director Helen M. Boudreau sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.42, for a total value of $53,550.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $442,708.56. This represents a 10.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John T. Bigalke sold 1,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total transaction of $25,207.84. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $529,142.74. This represents a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,425 shares of company stock valued at $1,320,242 over the last quarter. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Premier Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PINC opened at $22.90 on Wednesday. Premier, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.95 and a 12 month high of $23.56. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $21.90 and its 200 day moving average is $20.86.

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

Premier Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 15th. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Premier’s payout ratio is 61.77%.

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.