Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $80.10.

Several analysts have recently commented on HSIC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Henry Schein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barrington Research increased their price objective on Henry Schein from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised Henry Schein from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $69.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Henry Schein from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Henry Schein from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th.

Henry Schein Trading Up 1.3 %

HSIC stock opened at $80.58 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $73.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Henry Schein has a fifty-two week low of $63.67 and a fifty-two week high of $82.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91.

Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. Henry Schein had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 2.51%. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Henry Schein will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Henry Schein news, COO Michael S. Ettinger sold 12,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $918,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 87,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,577,950. This trade represents a 12.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Henry Schein

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Henry Schein by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,280,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,177,000 after purchasing an additional 237,888 shares in the last quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in Henry Schein by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP now owns 2,600,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,540,000 after buying an additional 600,000 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its position in Henry Schein by 22.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,278,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,072,000 after buying an additional 414,748 shares in the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,397,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,900,000 after buying an additional 71,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Henry Schein by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,175,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,662,000 after acquiring an additional 6,184 shares in the last quarter. 96.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Henry Schein

Henry Schein, Inc provides health care products and services to dental practitioners, laboratories, physician practices, and ambulatory surgery centers, government, institutional health care clinics, and other alternate care clinics worldwide. It operates through two segments, Health Care Distribution, and Technology and Value-Added Services.