Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,641 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,844 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Henry Schein were worth $921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSIC. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,484,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $351,543,000 after acquiring an additional 162,477 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Henry Schein by 7.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,280,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,177,000 after purchasing an additional 237,888 shares during the period. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP increased its position in Henry Schein by 30.0% during the third quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP now owns 2,600,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,540,000 after purchasing an additional 600,000 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC raised its stake in Henry Schein by 22.3% during the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,278,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,072,000 after purchasing an additional 414,748 shares during the period. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Henry Schein by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,640,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,148,000 after purchasing an additional 16,476 shares during the last quarter. 96.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on HSIC shares. StockNews.com upgraded Henry Schein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Henry Schein from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho initiated coverage on Henry Schein in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Henry Schein in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Michael S. Ettinger sold 12,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $918,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 87,706 shares in the company, valued at $6,577,950. This trade represents a 12.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Henry Schein Price Performance

HSIC stock opened at $73.18 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $72.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.10. Henry Schein, Inc. has a 52-week low of $63.67 and a 52-week high of $82.63. The company has a market capitalization of $9.12 billion, a PE ratio of 30.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. Henry Schein had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Henry Schein, Inc. will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Henry Schein Company Profile

Henry Schein, Inc provides health care products and services to dental practitioners, laboratories, physician practices, and ambulatory surgery centers, government, institutional health care clinics, and other alternate care clinics worldwide. It operates through two segments, Health Care Distribution, and Technology and Value-Added Services.