Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. $AVAH Shares Bought by Smith Group Asset Management LLC

Smith Group Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAH) by 34.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 263,669 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,393 shares during the period. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Aveanna Healthcare were worth $1,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aveanna Healthcare by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,577,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,535,351 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Aveanna Healthcare by 1,007.1% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,114,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014,030 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC lifted its position in Aveanna Healthcare by 135.9% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 1,571,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,838,000 after purchasing an additional 905,316 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Aveanna Healthcare by 451.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 959,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,511,000 after purchasing an additional 785,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Aveanna Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at $6,189,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.96% of the company’s stock.

Aveanna Healthcare Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:AVAH opened at $9.89 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.35, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.38, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.89. Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.73 and a 1-year high of $10.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.68.

Aveanna Healthcare (NASDAQ:AVAH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.05. Aveanna Healthcare had a return on equity of 124.68% and a net margin of 10.37%.The company had revenue of $647.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $613.22 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVAH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Aveanna Healthcare from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $10.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stephens upgraded Aveanna Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $11.00 in a report on Friday, May 15th. Barclays raised their target price on Aveanna Healthcare from $9.00 to $9.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Aveanna Healthcare in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Aveanna Healthcare from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Patrick A. Cunningham sold 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.59, for a total transaction of $948,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 212,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,614,810.45. This represents a 37.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Paul R. Vigano sold 7,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.24, for a total value of $43,680,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 252,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,578,089.76. This represents a 96.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,305,664 shares of company stock valued at $215,555,910. Insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Aveanna Healthcare Profile

Aveanna Healthcare, Inc (NASDAQ: AVAH) is a national provider of in-home health care services, specializing in pediatric skilled nursing, therapy, and related support for medically complex and chronically ill children. The company delivers a range of clinical and therapeutic solutions designed to enable patients to receive care in the comfort of their own homes, reducing the need for hospital stays and long-term institutional care. Aveanna’s offerings include registered nursing, physical, occupational and speech therapy, behavioral health counseling, and durable medical equipment coordination.

In addition to pediatric home health services, Aveanna operates adult home health and personal care support programs, assisting elderly and disabled adults with daily living activities, medication management, and rehabilitation therapies.