Short Interest in Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) Declines By 8.7%

Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) was the target of a large drop in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,210,000 shares, a drop of 8.7% from the October 31st total of 6,800,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,730,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days. Currently, 5.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on HSIC shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Henry Schein from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Henry Schein from $92.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Henry Schein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of Henry Schein in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Henry Schein from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.38.

Henry Schein Stock Down 0.3 %

HSIC traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $76.82. 466,195 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,393,016. Henry Schein has a 1 year low of $63.67 and a 1 year high of $82.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $71.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.87.

Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. Henry Schein had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Henry Schein will post 4.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Michael S. Ettinger sold 12,240 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Lorelei Mcglynn sold 21,035 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.30, for a total value of $1,457,725.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 71,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,978,026.90. The trade was a 22.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Henry Schein

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its position in shares of Henry Schein by 18.5% in the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 26,731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after acquiring an additional 4,176 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in Henry Schein by 16.8% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Henry Schein by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 55,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,585,000 after acquiring an additional 2,442 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in Henry Schein by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.