Premier, Inc. (PINC) To Go Ex-Dividend on November 29th

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th,Zacks Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share on Sunday, December 15th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th.

Premier has increased its dividend payment by an average of 30.3% annually over the last three years. Premier has a dividend payout ratio of 65.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Premier to earn $1.18 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 71.2%.

Premier Stock Performance

Premier stock opened at $22.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 0.40. Premier has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $23.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.88.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last announced 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. Premier had a return on equity of 10.74% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $248.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. Premier’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Premier will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PINC has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Benchmark downgraded shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Barclays increased their target price on Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Leigh Anderson sold 20,000 shares of Premier stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.62, for a total value of $392,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 131,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,584,091.34. The trade was a 13.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 19,362 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.83, for a total transaction of $403,310.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 578,143 shares in the company, valued at $12,042,718.69. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 141,537 shares of company stock valued at $2,915,552 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.96% 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.