Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) Short Interest Down 22.1% in February

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,970,000 shares, a decrease of 22.1% from the January 31st total of 2,530,000 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,430,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Insider Activity

In other Patterson Companies news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 $5,140,746.88. The trade was a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbour Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Patterson Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Huntington National Bank increased its position in Patterson Companies by 54.0% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 680 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in 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 during the period. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 20.5% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 85.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Patterson Companies Price Performance

Shares of Patterson Companies stock opened at $31.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.90. Patterson Companies has a twelve month low of $19.45 and a twelve month high of $31.79. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.51.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last posted its 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 the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Patterson Companies had a net margin of 2.37% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Patterson Companies will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PDCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Patterson Companies from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $31.35 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Leerink Partners reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $31.35 target price (up previously from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Patterson Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.57.

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.