Aveanna Healthcare (NASDAQ:AVAH) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s Why

Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAH) saw strong trading volume on Wednesday . 1,159,309 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 43% from the previous session’s volume of 812,197 shares.The stock last traded at $9.2270 and had previously closed at $9.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AVAH shares. Barclays upgraded Aveanna Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $5.50 to $9.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Zacks Research cut shares of Aveanna Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Aveanna Healthcare from $9.00 to $9.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Aveanna Healthcare from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $9.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Aveanna Healthcare from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aveanna Healthcare presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.19.

Aveanna Healthcare Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $8.97 and a 200 day moving average of $6.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.63 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 140.39, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Aveanna Healthcare (NASDAQ:AVAH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 22nd. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $450.53 million for the quarter. Aveanna Healthcare had a net margin of 3.29% and a negative return on equity of 143.55%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. will post -0.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Aveanna Healthcare

In related news, major shareholder Robert M. Williams, Jr. sold 1,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total transaction of $13,500,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 362,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,264,714. This represents a 80.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder J.H. Whitney Equity Partners V sold 1,251,909 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total value of $11,267,181.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 19,292,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $173,635,083. The trade was a 6.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,597,968 shares of company stock worth $293,381,712. 7.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aveanna Healthcare

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVAH. Summit Partners L P purchased a new stake in shares of Aveanna Healthcare during the 2nd quarter worth $50,477,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Aveanna Healthcare during the third quarter worth about $15,743,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aveanna Healthcare by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,041,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041,324 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Aveanna Healthcare during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,922,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Aveanna Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,356,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.96% of the company’s stock.

About Aveanna Healthcare

Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc, a diversified home care platform company, provides pediatric and adult healthcare services in the United States. Its patient-centered care delivery platform allows patients to remain in their homes and minimizes the overutilization of high-cost care settings, such as hospitals or skilled nursing facilities.