National Bank of Canada FI Has $8.02 Million Stock Holdings in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)

National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) by 690.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 352,600 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 308,000 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.30% of Premier worth $8,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PINC. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Premier by 65.8% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Premier by 12.9% during 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 period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Premier by 7,070.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 633,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,614,000 after purchasing an additional 624,357 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Premier by 56.3% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,479,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,811,000 after purchasing an additional 532,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Premier by 61.3% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,240,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,679,000 after purchasing an additional 471,683 shares during the period. 74.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PINC. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Premier from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Premier from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Leerink Partnrs reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Premier in a report on Monday, February 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $21.00 target price (down from $27.00) on shares of Premier in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, SVB Leerink initiated coverage on shares of Premier in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $22.50 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.50.

Premier Price Performance

NASDAQ:PINC opened at $19.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.20. The company has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 0.39. Premier, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.65 and a 52-week high of $28.30.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $334.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $338.55 million. Premier had a return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 12.71%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Premier, Inc. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. 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.