California Public Employees Retirement System Buys 59,507 Shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 10.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 608,084 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,507 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.51% of Premier worth $16,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,539,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,664,000 after buying an additional 248,521 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,117,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,009,000 after buying an additional 133,598 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 5,539,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,787,000 after buying an additional 130,946 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,690,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,446,000 after buying an additional 266,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Premier by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,038,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,352,000 after buying an additional 310,101 shares during the last quarter. 66.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Premier Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ PINC opened at $20.68 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.20. Premier, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.89 and a 52 week high of $35.57.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 22nd. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $340.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $355.59 million. Premier had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 12.48%. Premier’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Premier, Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.06%. Premier’s payout ratio is 56.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PINC. Credit Suisse Group reduced their target price on shares of Premier from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 24th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Premier from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Premier from $38.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 23rd. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Premier from $31.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 23rd. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Premier from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.50.

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.