Short Interest in Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) Decreases By 6.8%

Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,500,000 shares, a decline of 6.8% from the March 15th total of 5,900,000 shares. Approximately 4.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Henry Schein Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of HSIC stock opened at $70.73 on Tuesday. Henry Schein has a 12 month low of $60.01 and a 12 month high of $85.39. The stock has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.54.

Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.04). Henry Schein had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 14.03%. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Henry Schein will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Henry Schein

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 2.4% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 18.9% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 14,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,220,000 after purchasing an additional 2,226 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 23.2% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 37,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,290,000 after purchasing an additional 7,095 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 6.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 18,555 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 4.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,300,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,386,000 after purchasing an additional 51,106 shares in the last quarter. 96.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HSIC. Barrington Research boosted their price target on shares of Henry Schein from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Henry Schein from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Leerink Partnrs reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Henry Schein in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Henry Schein from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, SVB Leerink started coverage on shares of Henry Schein in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $78.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Henry Schein presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.09.

Henry Schein Company Profile

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.