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

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share on Saturday, June 15th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st.

Premier has increased its dividend payment by an average of 30.3% annually over the last three years. Premier has a dividend payout ratio of 35.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Premier to earn $2.11 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 39.8%.

Premier Stock Up 0.7 %

PINC stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $20.96. 1,195,560 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,103,782. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.18. Premier has a 12 month low of $18.89 and a 12 month high of $33.58. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.38.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $338.55 million. Premier had a net margin of 12.71% and a return on equity of 11.60%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Premier will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.