Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) Short Interest Down 20.2% in December

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,010,000 shares, a decline of 20.2% from the December 15th total of 2,520,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $23.08, for a total transaction of $45,282.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 222,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,140,746.88. This trade represents a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Patterson Companies

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in Patterson Companies by 15,728.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 5,505 shares during the period. Choreo LLC bought a new position in Patterson Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $261,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 83.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 902,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,775,000 after buying an additional 411,012 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Patterson Companies by 52.8% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 120,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,899,000 after buying an additional 41,507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Patterson Companies by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,915,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,436,000 after buying an additional 23,344 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.43% of the company’s stock.

Patterson Companies Price Performance

PDCO traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $30.88. 162,432 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,632,493. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.89. Patterson Companies has a one year low of $19.45 and a one year high of $31.79. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.99.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Patterson Companies had a net margin of 2.37% and a return on equity of 19.77%. Patterson Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Patterson Companies will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PDCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho assumed coverage on Patterson Companies in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Patterson Companies in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Leerink Partners reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $31.35 price objective (up from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.57.

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.