Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) Stock Price Down 4.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) shares fell 4.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $28.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Patterson Companies traded as low as $24.16 and last traded at $24.23. 88,183 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 1,000,234 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.38.

PDCO has been the topic of several other research reports. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Patterson Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Patterson Companies in a report on Monday, February 26th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Patterson Companies from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Patterson Companies from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.78.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PDCO. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Patterson Companies by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,594,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,852,000 after purchasing an additional 523,226 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Patterson Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,162,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Patterson Companies by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 561,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,973,000 after acquiring an additional 101,860 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Patterson Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $1,233,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Patterson Companies by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 867,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,669,000 after purchasing an additional 5,710 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.43% of the company’s stock.

Patterson Companies Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $24.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.95.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 18th. The company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Patterson Companies had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Patterson Companies, Inc. will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Patterson Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 19th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.31%. Patterson Companies’s payout ratio is currently 52.00%.

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.