Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AMED. Raymond James reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Amedisys in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Amedisys from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $101.00 target price on shares of Amedisys in a research note on Thursday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amedisys currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $97.50.

Amedisys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMED opened at $91.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Amedisys has a 12 month low of $73.10 and a 12 month high of $96.44. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -143.42, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.86.

Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The health services provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.01. Amedisys had a negative net margin of 0.91% and a positive return on equity of 13.00%. The business had revenue of $571.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $565.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Amedisys will post 4.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amedisys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMED. Pentwater Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Amedisys by 239.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP now owns 1,144,000 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $106,850,000 after acquiring an additional 807,000 shares in the last quarter. Westchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Amedisys by 269.7% in the 3rd quarter. Westchester Capital Management LLC now owns 850,386 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $79,426,000 after acquiring an additional 620,386 shares in the last quarter. Water Island Capital LLC increased its holdings in Amedisys by 185.0% in the 4th quarter. Water Island Capital LLC now owns 710,697 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $67,559,000 after acquiring an additional 461,368 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Amedisys during the fourth quarter worth $34,032,000. Finally, Segantii Capital Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Amedisys during the fourth quarter worth $32,776,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.36% of the company’s stock.

Amedisys Company Profile

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.