Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.21

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be given a dividend of 0.21 per share on Saturday, March 15th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th.

Premier has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.5% annually over the last three years. Premier has a dividend payout ratio of 63.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Premier to earn $1.19 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 70.6%.

Premier Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PINC opened at $22.39 on Friday. Premier has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $23.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $21.88 and its 200-day moving average is $20.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.46 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.36.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $53,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $442,708.56. This represents a 10.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Leigh Anderson sold 20,000 shares of Premier stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.88, for a total value of $437,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,707 shares in the company, valued at $2,444,149.16. The trade was a 15.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 59,425 shares of company stock worth $1,320,242. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.