Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Stake in Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC - Free Report) by 22.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,409 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,272 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Henry Schein were worth $1,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSIC. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in shares of Henry Schein in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Henry Schein by 3,347.1% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 586 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Henry Schein by 91.2% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 677 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Henry Schein by 180.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 946 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.62% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HSIC. Barrington Research lowered their price objective on Henry Schein from $90.00 to $86.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Henry Schein from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen cut Henry Schein from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Henry Schein from $83.00 to $77.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Henry Schein from $83.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Henry Schein has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $79.30.

Henry Schein Stock Performance

NASDAQ HSIC traded down $0.10 on Friday, hitting $70.37. 1,052,276 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,683,821. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $67.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.63. Henry Schein, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.56 and a fifty-two week high of $82.49. The firm has a market cap of $8.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.86.

Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.24 billion. Henry Schein had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 2.51%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Henry Schein, Inc. will post 4.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Henry Schein

In other Henry Schein news, Director Philip A. Laskawy sold 2,604 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 24,805 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,762,147.20. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Bradford C. Connett sold 4,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.15, for a total value of $287,161.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,460,251.20. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Henry Schein 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.