Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) Raised to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) from an underperform rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $84.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $69.00.

HSIC has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Henry Schein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Henry Schein in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Henry Schein in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Henry Schein from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Seven 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.40.

Henry Schein Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HSIC opened at $71.06 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $72.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.37. The company has a market cap of $8.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.89. 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 one year low of $63.67 and a one year high of $82.63.

Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. Henry Schein had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 2.51%. The company had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.32 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Henry Schein will post 4.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Henry Schein

In related news, COO Michael S. Ettinger sold 12,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 87,706 shares in the company, valued at $6,577,950. This represents a 12.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Henry Schein

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Henry Schein by 5.4% during the third quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,397,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,900,000 after purchasing an additional 71,560 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC raised 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 valued at $166,072,000 after purchasing an additional 414,748 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new stake in Henry Schein in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,683,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Henry Schein by 1,622.3% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 458,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,449,000 after buying an additional 432,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Henry Schein in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $515,000. Institutional investors own 96.62% of the company’s stock.

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.