Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $28.30.

PDCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Patterson Companies from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Patterson Companies from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 7,216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.99, for a total value of $180,327.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 230,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,749,499.28. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Patterson Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Equity Investment Corp acquired a new stake in Patterson Companies during the second quarter worth about $37,935,000. Private Management Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 268.5% during the 2nd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,431,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,532,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,201 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $277,003,000 after purchasing an additional 730,819 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Patterson Companies by 58.8% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,391,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,559,000 after purchasing an additional 515,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 83.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 902,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,775,000 after purchasing an additional 411,012 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.43% of the company’s stock.

Patterson Companies Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ PDCO opened at $20.64 on Tuesday. Patterson Companies has a 12-month low of $19.89 and a 12-month high of $32.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a PE ratio of 11.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.02. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Patterson Companies had a return on equity of 19.87% and a net margin of 2.58%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Patterson Companies will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Patterson Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.04%. Patterson Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.83%.

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.