Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,840,000 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the November 30th total of 6,450,000 shares. Currently, 5.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on HSIC shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Henry Schein from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Henry Schein in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Henry Schein in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Henry Schein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Henry Schein currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Michael S. Ettinger sold 12,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $918,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 87,706 shares in the company, valued at $6,577,950. The trade was a 12.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Henry Schein

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Henry Schein by 93.4% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 58.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 933 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in Henry Schein by 282.1% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Henry Schein in the 3rd quarter valued at $109,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its stake in Henry Schein by 16.8% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. 96.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Henry Schein Trading Down 0.9 %

HSIC opened at $68.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $72.11 and a 200 day moving average of $70.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Henry Schein has a 12 month low of $63.67 and a 12 month high of $82.63. The firm has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.87.

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