Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,430,000 shares, a decrease of 29.8% from the March 15th total of 6,310,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,650,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 3.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 12.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,013,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,288,000 after purchasing an additional 1,597,067 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Premier by 108.0% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 350,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,535,000 after acquiring an additional 181,979 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS acquired a new stake in Premier during the third quarter worth about $1,712,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Premier by 984.9% during the third 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 during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in Premier during the second quarter worth about $10,194,000. 74.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on PINC. Barclays began coverage on Premier in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. SVB Leerink began coverage on Premier in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $22.50 price objective on the stock. Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Premier in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Premier presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.15.

Premier Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ PINC traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $21.09. 1,282,089 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,598,330. 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 market cap of $2.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 0.38. Premier has a 1 year low of $18.89 and a 1 year high of $33.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $21.34 and a 200 day moving average of $21.21.

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

Premier Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Premier’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.