Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $28.30.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Patterson Companies from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Patterson Companies from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Evercore ISI cut 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. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target 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.

Institutional Trading of Patterson Companies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Equity Investment Corp lifted its position in Patterson Companies by 10.6% in the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,739,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,994,000 after purchasing an additional 166,899 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 35.2% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 91,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,540,000 after buying an additional 23,941 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Patterson Companies by 177.7% in the 2nd quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 73,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,773,000 after buying an additional 47,032 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Patterson Companies by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,018,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,003,000 after buying an additional 730,819 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 191.2% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 186,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,501,000 after buying an additional 122,511 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.43% of the company’s stock.

Patterson Companies Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Patterson Companies stock opened at $21.49 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.74, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.02. Patterson Companies has a 12-month low of $19.45 and a 12-month high of $32.56.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.54 billion during 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 business’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Patterson Companies will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Patterson Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 16th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.84%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Patterson Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.83%.

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.