Value Line Premier Growth Fund, Inc.
Schedule of Investments (unaudited)
| Shares | Value | |||||||
| COMMON STOCKS (94.5%) | ||||||||
| CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY (4.9%) | ||||||||
| RETAIL (4.9%) | ||||||||
| 4,100 | AutoZone, Inc. * | $ | 4,446,942 | |||||
| 13,200 | Domino's Pizza, Inc. | 3,228,588 | ||||||
| 22,600 | O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. * | 9,006,326 | ||||||
| 123,200 | TJX Companies, Inc. (The) | 6,867,168 | ||||||
| 23,549,024 | ||||||||
| CONSUMER STAPLES (4.5%) | ||||||||
| FOOD (0.2%) | ||||||||
| 5,000 | McCormick & Co., Inc. (1) | 781,500 | ||||||
| HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS (2.1%) | ||||||||
| 134,800 | Church & Dwight Co., Inc. | 10,142,352 | ||||||
| RETAIL (2.2%) | ||||||||
| 37,400 | Costco Wholesale Corp. | 10,775,314 | ||||||
| 21,699,166 | ||||||||
| FINANCIALS (2.6%) | ||||||||
| BANKS (1.1%) | ||||||||
| 97,000 | HDFC Bank, Ltd. ADR (1) | 5,533,850 | ||||||
| DIVERSIFIED FINANCIAL SERVICES (0.3%) | ||||||||
| 14,000 | Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. | 1,291,780 | ||||||
| INSURANCE (1.2%) | ||||||||
| 135,000 | Arch Capital Group, Ltd. * | 5,667,300 | ||||||
| 12,492,930 | ||||||||
| HEALTHCARE (15.7%) | ||||||||
| BIOTECHNOLOGY (1.9%) | ||||||||
| 33,200 | Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. * | 3,251,608 | ||||||
| 19,600 | Illumina, Inc. * | 5,962,712 | ||||||
| 9,214,320 | ||||||||
| ELECTRONICS (2.6%) | ||||||||
| 17,700 | Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. * | 12,467,880 | ||||||
| HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS (10.2%) | ||||||||
| 13,039 | Covetrus, Inc. *(1) | 155,034 | ||||||
| 117,300 | Danaher Corp. | 16,941,639 | ||||||
| 77,000 | Henry Schein, Inc. *(1) | 4,889,500 | ||||||
| 55,400 | IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. * | 15,064,922 | ||||||
| 42,200 | Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. | 12,291,594 | ||||||
| 49,342,689 | ||||||||
| HEALTHCARE SERVICES (1.0%) | ||||||||
| 10,600 | Chemed Corp. | 4,426,242 | ||||||
| 8,200 | Encompass Health Corp. | 518,896 | ||||||
| 4,945,138 | ||||||||
| 75,970,027 | ||||||||
| INDUSTRIALS (29.6%) | ||||||||
| AEROSPACE & DEFENSE (9.9%) | ||||||||
| 120,081 | HEICO Corp. | 14,995,715 | ||||||
| 15,800 | Northrop Grumman Corp. | 5,921,682 | ||||||
| 47,200 | Teledyne Technologies, Inc. * | 15,197,928 | ||||||
| 22,200 | TransDigm Group, Inc. | 11,558,874 | ||||||
| 47,674,199 | ||||||||
| COMMERCIAL SERVICES (3.3%) | ||||||||
| 15,200 | Cintas Corp. | 4,075,120 | ||||||
| 66,152 | IHS Markit, Ltd. * | 4,424,246 | ||||||
| 220,350 | Rollins, Inc. (1) | 7,507,324 | ||||||
| 16,006,690 | ||||||||
| ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT (2.0%) | ||||||||
| 103,750 | AMETEK, Inc. | 9,526,325 | ||||||
| ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL (4.7%) | ||||||||
| 77,800 | Republic Services, Inc. | 6,733,590 | ||||||
| 173,700 | Waste Connections, Inc. | 15,980,400 | ||||||
| 22,713,990 | ||||||||
| HOUSEWARES (2.2%) | ||||||||
| 145,900 | Toro Co. (The) | 10,694,470 | ||||||
| MACHINERY DIVERSIFIED (3.9%) | ||||||||
| 31,850 | IDEX Corp. | 5,219,578 | ||||||
| 39,000 | Roper Technologies, Inc. | 13,907,400 | ||||||
| 19,126,978 | ||||||||
| TRANSPORTATION (3.6%) | ||||||||
| 56,000 | Canadian National Railway Co. | 5,032,160 | ||||||
| 19,100 | J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. | 2,113,415 | ||||||
| 62,800 | Union Pacific Corp. | 10,172,344 | ||||||
| 17,317,919 | ||||||||
| 143,060,571 | ||||||||
| INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (28.8%) | ||||||||
| COMMERCIAL SERVICES (2.6%) | ||||||||
| 46,200 | Automatic Data Processing, Inc. | 7,457,604 | ||||||
| 25,500 | WEX, Inc. * | 5,152,785 | ||||||
| 12,610,389 | ||||||||
| COMPUTERS (3.8%) | ||||||||
| 90,900 | Accenture PLC Class A | 17,484,615 | ||||||
| 11,500 | CGI, Inc. *(1) | 910,110 | ||||||
| 18,394,725 | ||||||||
| DIVERSIFIED FINANCIAL SERVICES (3.0%) | ||||||||
| 53,900 | MasterCard, Inc. Class A | 14,637,623 | ||||||
| ELECTRONICS (1.6%) | ||||||||
| 78,400 | Amphenol Corp. Class A | 7,565,600 | ||||||
| INTERNET (0.1%) | ||||||||
| 2,400 | VeriSign, Inc. * | 452,712 | ||||||
| SEMICONDUCTORS (0.9%) | ||||||||
| 16,000 | Broadcom, Inc. | 4,417,120 | ||||||
| 1 |
September 30, 2019
| Shares | Value | |||||||
| SOFTWARE (16.8%) | ||||||||
| 61,600 | ANSYS, Inc. * | $ | 13,635,776 | |||||
| 72,000 | Cadence Design Systems, Inc. * | 4,757,760 | ||||||
| 8,200 | Fair Isaac Corp. * | 2,488,864 | ||||||
| 48,600 | Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. | 6,452,136 | ||||||
| 140,800 | Fiserv, Inc. * | 14,585,472 | ||||||
| 29,400 | Intuit, Inc. | 7,818,636 | ||||||
| 25,500 | Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. | 3,722,235 | ||||||
| 90,400 | Salesforce.com, Inc. * | 13,418,976 | ||||||
| 27,000 | ServiceNow, Inc. * | 6,853,950 | ||||||
| 20,800 | Synopsys, Inc. * | 2,854,800 | ||||||
| 16,500 | Tyler Technologies, Inc. * | 4,331,250 | ||||||
| 80,919,855 | ||||||||
| 138,998,024 | ||||||||
| MATERIALS (5.1%) | ||||||||
| CHEMICALS (2.6%) | ||||||||
| 7,000 | Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. | 1,553,020 | ||||||
| 53,800 | Ecolab, Inc. | 10,654,552 | ||||||
| 12,207,572 | ||||||||
| HOUSEWARES (0.4%) | ||||||||
| 20,200 | Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (The) | 2,056,764 | ||||||
| PACKAGING & CONTAINERS (2.1%) | ||||||||
| 120,000 | Ball Corp. | 8,737,200 | ||||||
| 22,500 | Crown Holdings, Inc. * | 1,486,350 | ||||||
| 10,223,550 | ||||||||
| 24,487,886 | ||||||||
| REAL ESTATE (3.3%) | ||||||||
| REITS (3.3%) | ||||||||
| 31,600 | American Tower Corp. REIT | 6,987,708 | ||||||
| 23,200 | Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. REIT | 3,099,520 | ||||||
| 25,300 | SBA Communications Corp. REIT | 6,101,095 | ||||||
| 16,188,323 | ||||||||
| TOTAL COMMON STOCKS | ||||||||
| (Cost $200,745,406) (94.5%) | 456,445,951 | |||||||
| SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS (7.6%) | ||||||||
| MONEY MARKET FUNDS (7.6%) | ||||||||
| 31,160,881 | State Street Institutional Liquid Reserves Fund | 31,160,881 | ||||||
| 5,771,500 | State Street Navigator Securities Lending Government Money Market Portfolio (2) | 5,771,500 | ||||||
| TOTAL SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS | ||||||||
| (Cost $36,935,830) (7.6%) | 36,932,381 | |||||||
| TOTAL INVESTMENT SECURITIES (102.1%) | ||||||||
| (Cost $237,681,236) | $ | 493,378,332 | ||||||
| EXCESS OF LIABILITIES OVER CASH AND OTHER ASSETS (-2.1%) | (10,216,327 | ) | ||||||
| NET ASSETS (3) (100%) | $ | 483,162,005 | ||||||
| * | Non-income producing. | |
| (1) | A portion or all of the security was held on loan. As of September 30, 2019, the market value of the securities on loan was $12,984,659. | |
| (2) | Securities with an aggregate market value of $12,984,659 were out on loan in exchange for $5,771,500 of cash collateral as of September 30, 2019. The collateral was invested in a cash collateral reinvestment vehicle. | |
| (3) | For federal income tax purposes, the aggregate cost was $237,681,236, aggregate gross unrealized appreciation was $256,231,324, aggregate gross unrealized depreciation was $534,228 and the net unrealized appreciation was $255,697,096. | |
| ADR | American Depositary Receipt. | |
| REIT | Real Estate Investment Trust. |
| 2 |
The Fund follows fair valuation accounting standards (FASB ASC 820-10) which establishes a definition of fair value and set out a hierarchy for measuring fair value. These standards require additional disclosures about the various inputs and valuation techniques used to develop the measurements of fair value and a discussion of changes in valuation techniques and related inputs during the period. These inputs are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:
• Level 1 – Inputs that reflect unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the Fund has the ability to access at the measurement date;
• Level 2 – Inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability either directly or indirectly, including inputs in markets that are not considered to be active;
• Level 3 – Inputs that are unobservable.
Transfers between investment levels may occur as the markets fluctuate and/or the availability of data used in an investment’s valuation changes. The inputs or methodologies used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
The following table summarizes the inputs used to value the Fund's investments in securities as of September 30, 2019:
| Investments in Securities: | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Total | ||||||||||||
| Assets | ||||||||||||||||
| Common Stocks* | $ | 456,445,951 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 456,445,951 | ||||||||
| Short-Term Investments | 36,932,381 | — | — | 36,932,381 | ||||||||||||
| Total Investments in Securities | $ | 493,378,332 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 493,378,332 | ||||||||
* See Schedule of Investments for further classification.
The Fund follows the updated provisions surrounding fair value measurements and disclosures on transfers in and out of all levels of the fair value hierarchy on a gross basis and the reasons for the transfers as well as disclosures about the valuation techniques and inputs used to measure fair value for investments that fall in either Level 2 or Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy.
The Fund's policy is to recognize transfers between levels at the beginning of the reporting period.
For the period ended September 30, 2019, there were no transfers among levels.
An investment asset’s or liability’s level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level input, individually or in aggregate, that is significant to fair value measurement. The objective of fair value measurement remains the same even when there is a significant decrease in the volume and level of activity for an asset or liability and regardless of the valuation techniques used.
During the period ended September 30, 2019, there were no Level 3 investments. The Schedule of Investments includes a breakdown of the Funds' investments by category.