Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) Short Interest Up 19.6% in May

Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,580,000 shares, a growth of 19.6% from the April 30th total of 5,500,000 shares. Approximately 6.3% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,870,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Philip A. Laskawy sold 2,604 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.04, for a total transaction of $184,988.16. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,805 shares in the company, valued at $1,762,147.20. The trade was a 9.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Bradford C. Connett sold 4,036 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.15, for a total value of $287,161.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,688 shares in the company, valued at $4,460,251.20. The trade was a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.08% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 350,515 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,256,000 after buying an additional 18,882 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Henry Schein by 43.9% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,651 shares of the company's stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Henry Schein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $417,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Henry Schein by 29.9% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 15,854 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 3,650 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Henry Schein by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,191,677 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,464,000 after purchasing an additional 16,616 shares during the last quarter. 96.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on HSIC shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Henry Schein from $83.00 to $77.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Henry Schein from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group cut their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. Finally, Barrington Research cut their price target on shares of Henry Schein from $90.00 to $86.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Six research 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, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $79.30.

Henry Schein Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HSIC traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $70.36. 451,219 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,679,352. 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 firm's 50-day simple moving average is $67.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.66. Henry Schein has a fifty-two week low of $60.56 and a fifty-two week high of $82.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.87.

Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Henry Schein had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The business's revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Henry Schein will post 4.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.