Patterson Companies, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.26 (NASDAQ:PDCO)

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 17th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a dividend of 0.26 per share on Friday, November 1st. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th.

Patterson Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 41.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Patterson Companies to earn $2.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.4%.

Patterson Companies Trading Up 1.4 %

Patterson Companies stock opened at $22.26 on Thursday. Patterson Companies has a 12-month low of $19.96 and a 12-month high of $32.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a PE ratio of 10.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Patterson Companies had a net margin of 2.58% and a return on equity of 19.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Patterson Companies will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PDCO shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Patterson Companies from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Patterson Companies from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Patterson Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Patterson Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.40.

Insider Activity at Patterson Companies

In other Patterson Companies news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 5,875 shares of Patterson Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.71, for a total transaction of $139,296.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 237,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,626,098.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 5,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.71, for a total value of $139,296.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 237,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,626,098.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin Michael Barry sold 1,216 shares of Patterson Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.72, for a total value of $28,843.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 41,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $986,870.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,149 shares of company stock valued at $415,851. Corporate insiders own 1.50% 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.