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

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Zacks reports. Shareholders 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 of this dividend is Friday, May 31st.

Premier has increased its dividend by an average of 30.3% annually over the last three years. Premier has a payout ratio of 35.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of PINC traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $20.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,195,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,103,782. Premier has a 1-year low of $18.89 and a 1-year high of $33.58. The stock has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $338.55 million. Research analysts forecast that Premier will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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