Brandes Investment Partners LP Raises Position in Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC)

Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,367 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 918 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Henry Schein were worth $648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of HSIC. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 7.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,280,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,177,000 after acquiring an additional 237,888 shares during the period. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 30.0% in the third quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP now owns 2,600,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,540,000 after acquiring an additional 600,000 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 22.3% in the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,278,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,072,000 after acquiring an additional 414,748 shares during the period. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 5.4% in the third quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,397,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,900,000 after acquiring an additional 71,560 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Henry Schein by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,191,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,464,000 after acquiring an additional 16,616 shares during the period. 96.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Henry Schein Stock Performance

HSIC opened at $70.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.05, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.90. Henry Schein, Inc. has a 1-year low of $63.67 and a 1-year high of $82.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.04). Henry Schein had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 2.51%. The company had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Henry Schein’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Henry Schein, Inc. will post 4.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Henry Schein from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Henry Schein in a research report on Friday, February 14th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Henry Schein from $83.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Henry Schein in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Henry Schein from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $69.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Six equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.10.

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.