Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) in a research note published on Sunday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on PDCO. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Patterson Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Patterson Companies from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Leerink Partners reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $31.35 price objective (up from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Patterson Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.57.

Patterson Companies Stock Performance

Patterson Companies stock opened at $31.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.90. Patterson Companies has a 1-year low of $19.45 and a 1-year high of $31.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $30.93 and a 200-day moving average of $25.27.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Patterson Companies had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 2.37%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Patterson Companies will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.08, for a total transaction of $45,282.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 222,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,140,746.88. This represents a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PDCO. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Patterson Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,316,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,711,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,662,000 after purchasing an additional 527,054 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Patterson Companies during the third quarter valued at $11,183,000. TIG Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Patterson Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $14,633,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 2,837.3% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 423,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,084,000 after buying an additional 409,543 shares during the last quarter. 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.