Short Interest in Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) Rises By 17.1%

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,360,000 shares, a growth of 17.1% from the October 15th total of 2,870,000 shares. Approximately 4.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 849,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PDCO shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Patterson Companies from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Patterson Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.30.

Patterson Companies Stock Up 0.9 %

PDCO traded up $0.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $19.75. The company had a trading volume of 769,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 825,478. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Patterson Companies has a one year low of $19.45 and a one year high of $32.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $21.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.23.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Patterson Companies had a net margin of 2.58% and a return on equity of 19.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Patterson Companies will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Patterson Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 16th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Patterson Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.83%.

Institutional Trading of Patterson Companies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Equity Investment Corp bought a new position in Patterson Companies in the second quarter valued at $37,935,000. Private Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Patterson Companies by 268.5% in the 2nd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,431,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,532,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,201 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 7.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,018,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,003,000 after acquiring an additional 730,819 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Patterson Companies by 58.8% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,391,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,559,000 after acquiring an additional 515,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Patterson Companies during the third quarter worth about $11,183,000. 85.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.