Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 90,402 Shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Bridgewater Associates LP decreased its holdings in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 60,075 shares of the company’s stock after selling 90,402 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Premier were worth $1,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PINC. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Premier by 384.3% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,311,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,828,000 after purchasing an additional 5,007,851 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Premier by 14.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,951,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,105,000 after acquiring an additional 773,207 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Premier by 60.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,303,000 after acquiring an additional 772,392 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Premier during the second quarter valued at $5,138,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in Premier by 145.5% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 381,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,128,000 after acquiring an additional 226,290 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.41% of the company’s stock.

Premier Price Performance

PINC opened at $22.90 on Monday. Premier, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.95 and a fifty-two week high of $23.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.84, a P/E/G ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $20.88 and its 200 day moving average is $19.97.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. Premier had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 10.74%. The company had revenue of $248.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Premier, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Premier’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Premier news, COO Leigh Anderson sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,584,091.34. This trade represents a 13.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.16, for a total transaction of $403,331.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 520,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,060,060.48. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 141,537 shares of company stock worth $2,915,552 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Premier 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.