Is Premier Inc (PINC) A Good Stock To Buy?

As industrywide interest jumped, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Welch Capital Partners, led by Leighton Welch, initiated the biggest position in Premier Inc (NASDAQ:PINC). Welch Capital Partners had $11.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Muller’s PDT Partners also initiated a $2.2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new PINC positions are Mike Vranos’ Ellington, Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Premier Inc (NASDAQ:PINC). We will take a look at Lifelock Inc (NYSE:LOCK), HMS Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:HMSY), Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE), and Globe Specialty Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSM). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to PINC’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 20 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $198 million. That figure was $207 million in PINC’s case. Lifelock Inc (NYSE:LOCK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Premier Inc (NASDAQ:PINC) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard LOCK might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None