StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO)

Analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the stock.

PDCO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Patterson Companies in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. 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 report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Patterson Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.57.

Patterson Companies Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PDCO opened at $31.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.15, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.90. Patterson Companies has a 52 week low of $19.45 and a 52 week high of $31.79. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $30.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.02). The business 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 revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Patterson Companies will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Patterson Companies

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PDCO. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Patterson Companies by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 35,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $770,000 after buying an additional 10,773 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Patterson Companies by 53.2% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Patterson Companies by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 244,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,345,000 after purchasing an additional 40,125 shares during the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Patterson Companies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $983,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Patterson Companies by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,183,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,697,000 after purchasing an additional 258,042 shares during the last quarter. 85.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.