Robert W. Baird Raises Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) Price Target to $31.00

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) had its price objective boosted by Robert W. Baird from $25.00 to $31.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Patterson Companies in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Leerink Partners restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $31.35 target price (up from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a research report on Wednesday. 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 note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs downgraded Patterson Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven research 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.com, Patterson Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.24.

Patterson Companies Trading Up 0.3 %

Patterson Companies stock opened at $31.08 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $21.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.18, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Patterson Companies has a 52-week low of $19.45 and a 52-week high of $31.79.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.02). Patterson Companies had a net margin of 2.37% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Patterson Companies will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Patterson Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 16th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Patterson Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 60.82%.

Insider Activity at Patterson Companies

In other news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of Patterson Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.08, for a total value of $45,282.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 222,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,140,746.88. This trade represents a 0.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Patterson Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PDCO. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 655.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 3,897 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 70.4% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 6,370 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Patterson Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $1,777,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in Patterson Companies during the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in Patterson Companies by 201.2% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 843 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.