Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,503 shares of the company’s stock after selling 840 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Henry Schein were worth $2,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in Henry Schein by 93.4% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 274.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 457 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. City State Bank purchased a new position in shares of Henry Schein in the 4th quarter valued at about $55,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 58.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in Henry Schein by 282.1% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. 96.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Henry Schein Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of HSIC stock opened at $70.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.09, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.47. Henry Schein, Inc. has a twelve month low of $63.67 and a twelve month 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. Henry Schein had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Henry Schein, Inc. will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HSIC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of Henry Schein from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $69.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho began coverage on Henry Schein in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Henry Schein in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Henry Schein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Henry Schein from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Henry Schein presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.40.

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.