Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Buys Shares of 15,790 Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 15,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $316,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Premier by 27.7% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 428,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,562,000 after acquiring an additional 92,766 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Premier by 60.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,303,000 after buying an additional 772,392 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Premier by 6.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,241,000 after buying an additional 98,544 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Premier during the 3rd quarter worth about $678,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Premier by 384.3% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,311,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,828,000 after purchasing an additional 5,007,851 shares during the period. 74.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on PINC shares. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 9th. 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 report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded 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, Premier has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.36.

Premier Stock Performance

PINC stock opened at $22.84 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.08 and a beta of 0.40. Premier, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.95 and a 52 week high of $23.43. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.86.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $248.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $232.85 million. Premier had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 10.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Premier, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Premier Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Premier news, General Counsel David L. Klatsky sold 1,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.28, for a total value of $37,923.60. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 100,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,040,107.16. This trade represents a 1.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 17,415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.16, for a total value of $403,331.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 520,728 shares in the company, valued at $12,060,060.48. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 141,537 shares of company stock worth $2,915,552. Company 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.