StockNews.com Downgrades Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HSIC. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Henry Schein in a research note on Friday, February 14th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America raised Henry Schein from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $69.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Henry Schein in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Henry Schein from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Henry Schein from $83.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Henry Schein has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.10.

Henry Schein Price Performance

NASDAQ:HSIC opened at $64.73 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $70.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.97. Henry Schein has a 12 month low of $60.56 and a 12 month high of $82.49. The firm has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.04). Henry Schein had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 2.51%. The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Henry Schein will post 4.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Philip A. Laskawy sold 2,604 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.04, for a total transaction of $184,988.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,805 shares in the company, valued at $1,762,147.20. The trade was a 9.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Bradford C. Connett sold 4,036 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.15, for a total transaction of $287,161.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 62,688 shares in the company, valued at $4,460,251.20. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of HSIC. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Henry Schein by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Henry Schein by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 6,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Henry Schein by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 17,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,235,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in Henry Schein by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its stake in Henry Schein by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 10,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $706,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.62% of the company’s stock.

Henry Schein Company Profile

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.