Short Interest in Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) Grows By 25.9%

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PDCO. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Patterson Companies in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Patterson Companies in a research report on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $31.35 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Eleven investment 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 an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.57.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were 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 owns 222,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Patterson Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PDCO. Harbour Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Patterson Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 54.0% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 103.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Patterson Companies by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during 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 traded down $0.01 on Friday, hitting $31.03. The company had a trading volume of 748,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,382,452. Patterson Companies has a 52 week low of $19.45 and a 52 week high of $31.79. The company has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of 18.15, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.99. 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 (NASDAQ:PDCO) last released its 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 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 analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Patterson Companies will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.