Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

Stock analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) in a research report issued on Sunday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on PDCO. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Patterson Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Patterson Companies in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Leerink Partners reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $31.35 target price (up from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Patterson Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.57.

Patterson Companies Stock Performance

PDCO opened at $30.85 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $23.97 and its 200-day moving average is $23.47. The stock has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a PE ratio of 18.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.00. Patterson Companies has a twelve month low of $19.45 and a twelve month high of $31.79.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Patterson Companies will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Patterson Companies

In other news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,140,746.88. This trade represents a 0.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Patterson Companies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PDCO. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Patterson Companies during the third quarter valued at about $65,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 25,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 9,015 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Patterson Companies by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 165,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,619,000 after purchasing an additional 44,906 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 6.2% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 30,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789 shares during the period. Finally, Petrus Trust Company LTA raised its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 186.9% in the third quarter. Petrus Trust Company LTA now owns 30,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 19,701 shares in 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.