Barclays Initiates Coverage on Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED)

Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, The Fly reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $93.00 target price on the health services provider’s stock.

AMED has been the topic of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com cut Amedisys from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday. Credit Suisse Group reiterated an outperform rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Amedisys in a report on Monday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Amedisys from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. SVB Leerink cut their price objective on Amedisys from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 5th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a buy rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Amedisys in a report on Monday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amedisys presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $119.33.

Amedisys Price Performance

Shares of AMED opened at $82.02 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Amedisys has a 1 year low of $79.30 and a 1 year high of $179.91. The stock has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $90.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.85.

Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The health services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.13. Amedisys had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 5.34%. The firm had revenue of $562.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $560.46 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Amedisys will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amedisys news, insider Michael Paul North sold 5,908 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.43, for a total transaction of $510,628.44. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $359,894.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Amedisys by 54.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 182,539 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $17,668,000 after purchasing an additional 64,019 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amedisys by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 81,541 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $8,572,000 after acquiring an additional 7,031 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Amedisys by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 39,053 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $3,780,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amedisys during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $412,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Amedisys by 293.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 164,328 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $15,905,000 after acquiring an additional 122,588 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.17% of the company’s stock.

About Amedisys

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Amedisys, Inc engages in the provision of healthcare services. It operates through the following business segments: Home Health, Hospice, Personal Care, and High Acuity Care. The Home Health segment delivers services in the homes of individuals who may be recovering from an illness, injury, or surgery.