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

Stock analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO - Get Free Report) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm set a "hold" rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on PDCO. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $31.35 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Leerink Partners restated a "market perform" rating and set a $31.35 price target (up from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Patterson Companies from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Leerink Partnrs lowered Patterson Companies from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $26.57.

Patterson Companies Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PDCO traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $30.99. The company had a trading volume of 607,867 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,608,751. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $28.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.54. Patterson Companies has a 1-year low of $19.45 and a 1-year high of $31.79.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Patterson Companies will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Patterson Companies

In other Patterson Companies news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 222,736 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Patterson Companies in the third quarter valued at $11,183,000. Royce & Associates LP bought a new position in shares of Patterson Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $6,807,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 13.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp boosted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,739,669 shares of the company's stock worth $37,994,000 after purchasing an additional 166,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kempner Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Patterson Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,514,000. 85.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.