Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) Short Interest Down 20.2% in December

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,010,000 shares, a decline of 20.2% from the December 15th total of 2,520,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,270,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Patterson Companies Price Performance

Shares of PDCO stock traded up $0.02 on Friday, hitting $30.90. 31,818 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,819,830. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.46 and a 200 day moving average of $24.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Patterson Companies has a 12 month low of $19.45 and a 12 month high of $31.79.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.47 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 return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 2.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Patterson Companies will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Patterson Companies

In related news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of Patterson Companies stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 222,736 shares in the company, valued at $5,140,746.88. This trade represents a 0.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Patterson Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 15,728.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 5,505 shares during the period. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of Patterson Companies during the second quarter valued at about $261,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Patterson Companies by 83.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 902,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,775,000 after purchasing an additional 411,012 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Patterson Companies by 52.8% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 120,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,899,000 after buying an additional 41,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,915,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,436,000 after buying an additional 23,344 shares during the last quarter. 85.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PDCO. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Patterson Companies in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Leerink Partnrs cut Patterson Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Mizuho began coverage on Patterson Companies in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $31.35 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.57.

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.