Equity Investment Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO)

Equity Investment Corp lifted its position in Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) by 10.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,739,669 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 166,899 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp’s holdings in Patterson Companies were worth $37,994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its stake in Patterson Companies by 2.3% during the second quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 19,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $471,000 after buying an additional 442 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC boosted its stake in Patterson Companies by 7.0% during the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 8,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Patterson Companies by 32.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,757 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 680 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Patterson Companies by 6.2% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 14,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 828 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 843 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.43% of the company’s stock.

Patterson Companies Stock Up 0.9 %

PDCO stock opened at $19.75 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Patterson Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.45 and a twelve month high of $32.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $21.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.02.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Patterson Companies had a return on equity of 19.87% and a net margin of 2.58%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. Research analysts expect that Patterson Companies, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Patterson Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 16th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.27%. Patterson Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.30.

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.