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

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) in a research note issued on Thursday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on PDCO. Piper Sandler cut their target price 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. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Patterson Companies in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partners reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $31.35 target price (up previously from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Patterson Companies from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.57.

Patterson Companies Price Performance

Shares of PDCO stock opened at $30.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.10, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.89. Patterson Companies has a 12 month low of $19.45 and a 12 month high of $31.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $28.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.58.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Patterson Companies will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.08, for a total value of $45,282.96. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Patterson Companies

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Patterson Companies by 31.5% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 33,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 7,969 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp raised its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 10.6% in the third 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. Goodman Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 19.1% in the third quarter. Goodman Financial Corp now owns 543,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,865,000 after buying an additional 86,972 shares in the last quarter. Mork Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 142.9% in the third quarter. Mork Capital Management LLC now owns 84,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,856,000 after buying an additional 50,000 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Patterson Companies by 37.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 165,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,619,000 after buying an additional 44,906 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.43% of the company’s stock.

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.