Foster & Motley Inc. Has $628,000 Holdings in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Foster & Motley Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,092 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,079 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Premier were worth $628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PINC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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 last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Premier by 65.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,609,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,438,000 after buying an additional 2,225,828 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Premier by 56.3% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,479,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,811,000 after acquiring an additional 532,918 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Premier by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,445,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,310,000 after acquiring an additional 168,719 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Premier by 4.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,284,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,609,000 after acquiring an additional 56,425 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays started coverage on Premier in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Leerink Partnrs reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Premier in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, SVB Leerink started coverage on shares of Premier in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $22.50 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Premier currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.15.

Premier Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PINC opened at $21.03 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $21.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.38. Premier, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.89 and a 1-year high of $33.58.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. Premier had a return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 12.71%. The business had revenue of $334.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $338.55 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Premier, Inc. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.