Robert W. Baird Issues Positive Forecast for Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) Stock Price

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at Robert W. Baird from $25.00 to $31.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target points to a potential downside of 0.26% from the company’s current price.

PDCO has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Leerink Partnrs cut Patterson Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Patterson Companies from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Leerink Partners restated a “market perform” rating and set a $31.35 target price (up from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.24.

Patterson Companies Price Performance

Shares of PDCO opened at $31.08 on Thursday. 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 has a twelve month low of $19.45 and a twelve month high of $31.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.52 and a 200-day moving average of $22.88.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.47 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Patterson Companies will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Patterson Companies

In other news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 222,736 shares in the company, valued at $5,140,746.88. The trade was a 0.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Patterson Companies

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its holdings in Patterson Companies by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 19,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 32.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 680 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 6.2% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 14,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in Patterson Companies by 201.2% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 843 shares during the period. Finally, Bfsg LLC raised its stake in Patterson Companies by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 12,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. 85.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Patterson Companies Company Profile

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.