Piper Sandler Trims Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) Target Price to $22.00

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) had its price objective trimmed by Piper Sandler from $24.00 to $22.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

PINC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of Premier from a buy rating to a hold rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a hold rating and set a $21.00 price target (down from $27.00) on shares of Premier in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Premier from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Leerink Partnrs reissued a market perform rating on shares of Premier in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Premier from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Premier presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Premier Price Performance

NASDAQ:PINC traded down $0.17 on Wednesday, reaching $19.44. The stock had a trading volume of 170,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,557,106. The company has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 0.39. Premier has a 1-year low of $18.65 and a 1-year high of $28.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $21.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.21.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last announced 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 net margin of 12.71% and a return on equity of 11.60%. The company had revenue of $334.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $338.55 million. Research analysts forecast that Premier will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 1st will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Premier’s payout ratio is presently 60.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Premier

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PINC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Premier during the fourth quarter worth $51,271,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Premier by 65.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,609,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225,828 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Premier by 12.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,013,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,288,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597,067 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Premier by 139.3% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,121,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,235,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Premier by 7,070.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 633,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,614,000 after acquiring an additional 624,357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Premier Company Profile

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.