Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) Announces $0.26 Quarterly Dividend

Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 11th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of 0.26 per share on Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th.

Patterson Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 39.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Patterson Companies to earn $2.48 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.9%.

Patterson Companies Stock Up 1.1 %

Patterson Companies stock opened at $25.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.73. Patterson Companies has a 12 month low of $25.00 and a 12 month high of $34.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). Patterson Companies had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 2.95%. The business had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Patterson Companies will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Patterson Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Patterson Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $22,778,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Patterson Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $18,844,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,921,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,847,000 after buying an additional 587,570 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 35.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,907,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,061,000 after buying an additional 503,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Patterson Companies by 93.3% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 789,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,266,000 after buying an additional 381,278 shares in the last quarter. 85.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PDCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Patterson Companies in a report on Monday, February 26th. SVB Leerink initiated coverage on Patterson Companies in a report on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Patterson Companies from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Patterson Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Patterson Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.11.

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.