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

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,530,000 shares, a growth of 25.9% from the January 15th total of 2,010,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,470,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the firm’s 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 $5,140,746.88. This trade represents a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Patterson Companies

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Patterson Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $311,000. AQR Arbitrage LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Patterson Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,288,000. Nexpoint Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 1,846.0% in the fourth quarter. Nexpoint Asset Management L.P. now owns 334,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,329,000 after purchasing an additional 317,520 shares in the last quarter. TIG Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Patterson Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,633,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Patterson Companies by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,212,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,415,000 after acquiring an additional 64,910 shares during the period. 85.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Patterson Companies from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 6th. Leerink Partners reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $31.35 price objective (up previously from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com began coverage on Patterson Companies in a report on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $31.35 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.57.

Patterson Companies Price Performance

Shares of Patterson Companies stock traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $31.03. 748,496 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,382,452. The business has a 50-day moving average of $30.62 and a 200 day moving average of $24.99. Patterson Companies has a fifty-two week low of $19.45 and a fifty-two week high of $31.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of 18.15, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Patterson Companies had a net margin of 2.37% and a return on equity of 19.77%. Patterson Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Patterson Companies will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

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.