Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,500,000 shares, a drop of 6.8% from the March 15th total of 5,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,140,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.8 days. Approximately 4.3% of the company's stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Henry Schein

In other Henry Schein news, CEO Bradford C. Connett sold 6,430 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.28, for a total value of $477,620.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,108 shares in the company, valued at $5,430,462.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Bradford C. Connett sold 6,430 shares of Henry Schein stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.28, for a total transaction of $477,620.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,430,462.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman James P. Breslawski sold 2,907 shares of Henry Schein stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.37, for a total value of $216,193.59. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 209,562 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,585,125.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Henry Schein

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HSIC. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Henry Schein by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,262 shares of the company's stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Henry Schein by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 14,030 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,220,000 after buying an additional 2,226 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 37,733 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,290,000 after purchasing an additional 7,095 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 18,555 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,300,357 shares of the company's stock valued at $113,386,000 after purchasing an additional 51,106 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.62% of the company's stock.

Henry Schein Price Performance

Shares of HSIC traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $71.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,033,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,113,236. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.87. Henry Schein has a one year low of $60.01 and a one year high of $85.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $74.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.52.

Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.04). Henry Schein had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 3.37%. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. The company's revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Henry Schein will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on HSIC shares. Leerink Partnrs reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Henry Schein in a research note on Monday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Henry Schein from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Henry Schein from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Henry Schein from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, SVB Leerink started coverage on Henry Schein in a report on Monday, February 26th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $78.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Henry Schein currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $81.09.

About Henry Schein

Henry Schein, Inc provides health care products and services to dental practitioners and laboratories, physician practices, 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.