Morgan Stanley Boosts Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) Price Target to $31.35

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO - Free Report) had its target price raised by Morgan Stanley from $27.00 to $31.35 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Patterson Companies from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America decreased 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. UBS Group reduced 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. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on Patterson Companies in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $26.57.

Patterson Companies Stock Performance

PDCO stock traded down $0.12 on Tuesday, reaching $30.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,314,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,011,201. Patterson Companies has a 52 week low of $19.45 and a 52 week high of $31.79. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $21.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.00.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 2.37%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. Patterson Companies's revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Patterson Companies will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Patterson Companies news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.08, for a total value of $45,282.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 222,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,140,746.88. This represents a 0.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Patterson Companies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PDCO. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 23,344 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $47,697,000 after purchasing an additional 258,042 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,988,217 shares of the company's stock worth $43,423,000 after acquiring an additional 68,947 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Patterson Companies by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,739,669 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,994,000 after buying an additional 166,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Patterson Companies by 5.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,554,566 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,952,000 after buying an additional 81,524 shares during the last quarter. 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.