Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) Stock Price Down 3.1%

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO)’s stock price dropped 3.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $20.42 and last traded at $20.42. Approximately 173,233 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 967,996 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on PDCO shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group decreased 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Patterson Companies from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Patterson Companies from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Patterson Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.40.

Patterson Companies Stock Down 3.1 %

The company has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.54, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $23.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Patterson Companies had a return on equity of 19.87% and a net margin of 2.58%. The company’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. As a group, research analysts forecast that Patterson Companies, Inc. will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Patterson Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Patterson Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 52.00%.

Insider Activity at Patterson Companies

In other news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 7,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.99, for a total transaction of $180,327.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 230,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,749,499.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Patterson Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 7.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,915,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,436,000 after purchasing an additional 23,344 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Patterson Companies by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,370,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,533,000 after purchasing an additional 82,522 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Patterson Companies by 7.5% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,925,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,453,000 after buying an additional 133,760 shares during the period. Finally, Equity Investment Corp bought a new position in Patterson Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,935,000. Institutional investors 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.