Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED)

Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $101.00 price objective on the health services provider’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 10.99% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AMED. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Amedisys in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Amedisys from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Amedisys in a report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.50.

Amedisys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMED traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $91.00. 18,707 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 275,006. Amedisys has a 1-year low of $73.10 and a 1-year high of $96.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -293.54, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $92.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The health services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $571.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $565.38 million. Amedisys had a negative net margin of 0.44% and a positive return on equity of 12.76%. Amedisys’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amedisys will post 4.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amedisys

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Amedisys by 2.2% during the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 9,400 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $866,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Amedisys by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 21,958 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,574 shares during the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Amedisys by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 29,861 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $2,752,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in Amedisys during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Amedisys by 604.2% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 49,297 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $4,686,000 after buying an additional 42,297 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.36% of the company’s stock.

About Amedisys

Amedisys, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides healthcare services in the United States. It operates through three segments: Home Health, Hospice, and High Acuity Care. The Home Health segment offers a range of services in the homes of individuals for the recovery of patients from surgery, chronic disability, or terminal illness, as well as prevents avoidable hospital readmissions through its skilled nurses; nursing services, rehabilitation therapists specialized in physical, speech, and occupational therapy; and social workers and aides for assisting its patients.