ARGA Investment Management LP Acquires New Stake in Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO)

ARGA Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 16,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $465,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PDCO. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Patterson Companies in the fourth quarter worth $26,162,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Patterson Companies by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,594,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,852,000 after acquiring an additional 523,226 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in Patterson Companies by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,287,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,081,000 after acquiring an additional 332,593 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Patterson Companies during the third quarter valued at about $5,525,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Patterson Companies by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,547,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,020,000 after buying an additional 156,402 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on PDCO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Patterson Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 20th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Patterson Companies from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered shares of Patterson Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Patterson Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.25.

Patterson Companies Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PDCO traded down $0.60 on Wednesday, reaching $23.58. 299,771 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,028,053. Patterson Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.29 and a 12 month high of $34.53. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.92. The company has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last announced its earnings results 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 business 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%. Patterson Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Patterson Companies, Inc. will post 2.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Patterson Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, July 19th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 19th. Patterson Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.