Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) Cut to “Hold” at Leerink Partnrs

Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports. Leerink Partnrs also issued estimates for Patterson Companies’ Q3 2025 earnings at $0.62 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.94 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $2.27 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $2.48 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $2.76 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $3.04 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Bank of America dropped their target price on Patterson Companies from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Patterson Companies from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Leerink Partners reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $31.35 price target (up previously from $29.00) on shares of Patterson Companies in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Patterson Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Patterson Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.24.

Patterson Companies Price Performance

Patterson Companies stock opened at $31.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.00. Patterson Companies has a 12-month low of $19.45 and a 12-month high of $31.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $21.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.88.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Patterson Companies had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 2.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Patterson Companies will post 2.27 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 16th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Patterson Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Donald Zurbay sold 1,962 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.08, for a total transaction of $45,282.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 222,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,140,746.88. This represents a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Patterson Companies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Patterson Companies by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 33,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 7,969 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp lifted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 10.6% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,739,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,994,000 after purchasing an additional 166,899 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP grew its stake in Patterson Companies by 177.7% in the second quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 73,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,773,000 after purchasing an additional 47,032 shares in the last quarter. Goodman Financial Corp increased its holdings in Patterson Companies by 19.1% in the third quarter. Goodman Financial Corp now owns 543,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,865,000 after buying an additional 86,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mork Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Patterson Companies by 142.9% during the third quarter. Mork Capital Management LLC now owns 84,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,856,000 after buying an additional 50,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.43% of the company’s stock.

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.