Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) Short Interest Down 22.1% in February

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,970,000 shares, a decline of 22.1% from the January 31st total of 2,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,430,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days. Currently, 2.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Patterson Companies Price Performance

NASDAQ:PDCO opened at $31.14 on Tuesday. Patterson Companies has a 12-month low of $19.45 and a 12-month high of $31.79. The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50-day moving average is $30.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Patterson Companies had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 2.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Patterson Companies will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on PDCO. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $31.35 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Patterson Companies in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Patterson Companies from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Leerink Partners reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $31.35 price target (up from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Patterson Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.57.

Insider Activity at Patterson Companies

In other Patterson Companies news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.08, for a total transaction of $45,282.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 222,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,140,746.88. This trade represents a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 31.5% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 33,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 7,969 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp increased its holdings in Patterson Companies by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,739,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,994,000 after purchasing an additional 166,899 shares in the last quarter. Goodman Financial Corp raised its position in Patterson Companies by 19.1% in the third quarter. Goodman Financial Corp now owns 543,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,865,000 after purchasing an additional 86,972 shares during the period. Mork Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 142.9% during the third quarter. Mork Capital Management LLC now owns 84,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,856,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 37.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 165,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,619,000 after buying an additional 44,906 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.43% of the company’s stock.

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.