Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) Short Interest Update

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,530,000 shares, a growth of 25.9% from the January 15th total of 2,010,000 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,470,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Patterson Companies Trading Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ:PDCO traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $31.03. The stock had a trading volume of 748,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,382,452. Patterson Companies has a one year low of $19.45 and a one year high of $31.79. The company has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.15, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $30.62 and a 200 day moving average of $24.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Patterson Companies had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 2.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Patterson Companies will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Patterson Companies

In related news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.08, for a total value of $45,282.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 222,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,140,746.88. The trade was a 0.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Patterson Companies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Patterson Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $311,000. AQR Arbitrage LLC bought a new stake in Patterson Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $12,288,000. Nexpoint Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Patterson Companies by 1,846.0% during the 4th quarter. Nexpoint Asset Management L.P. now owns 334,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,329,000 after acquiring an additional 317,520 shares in the last quarter. TIG Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Patterson Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $14,633,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,212,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,415,000 after purchasing an additional 64,910 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on Patterson Companies in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $31.35 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs downgraded Patterson Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.57.

About Patterson Companies

Patterson Companies, Inc engages in the distribution of dental and animal health products in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The company operates through three segments: Dental, Animal Health, and Corporate segments. The Dental segment offers consumable products, including infection control, restorative materials, and instruments; basic and advanced technology and dental equipment; practice optimization solutions, such as practice management software, e-commerce, revenue cycle management, patient engagement solutions, and clinical and patient education systems.