Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,530,000 shares, an increase of 25.9% from the January 15th total of 2,010,000 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,470,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Patterson Companies

In other news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.08, for a total transaction of $45,282.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 222,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,140,746.88. This represents a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harbour Investments Inc. acquired a new position in Patterson Companies during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in Patterson Companies by 54.0% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,115 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Patterson Companies by 103.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 2,084.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,184 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 2,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 85.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on PDCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com started coverage on Patterson Companies in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $31.35 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Leerink Partners restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $31.35 price objective (up from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on Patterson Companies in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $23.00 target price on the stock. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $26.57.

Patterson Companies Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ PDCO traded up $0.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $31.06. The stock had a trading volume of 726,251 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,286,126. Patterson Companies has a fifty-two week low of $19.45 and a fifty-two week high of $31.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The business's 50-day moving average price is $30.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.11. The company has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.90.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.02). Patterson Companies had a net margin of 2.37% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Patterson Companies will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.