Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Position in Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. $AVAH

Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAH) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 138,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $895,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AVAH. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aveanna Healthcare by 38.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,577,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,564,000 after buying an additional 1,535,351 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Aveanna Healthcare by 1,007.1% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,114,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,107,000 after buying an additional 1,014,030 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC raised its stake in Aveanna Healthcare by 135.9% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 1,571,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,838,000 after acquiring an additional 905,316 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised 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 worth $8,511,000 after acquiring an additional 785,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in Aveanna Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at $6,189,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aveanna Healthcare

In other news, major shareholder J.H. Whitney Equity Partners V sold 2,419,035 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.01, for a total transaction of $19,376,470.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 10,112,123 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,998,105.23. This represents a 19.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Robert M. Williams, Jr. sold 3,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.01, for a total value of $24,030,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 190,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,522,941.30. This represents a 94.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 31,305,664 shares of company stock worth $215,555,910 over the last three months. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Aveanna Healthcare Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:AVAH opened at $9.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $8.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.35, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.73 and a 1-year high of $10.32.

Aveanna Healthcare (NASDAQ:AVAH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $647.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $613.22 million. Aveanna Healthcare had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 124.68%. Aveanna Healthcare’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current year.

About Aveanna Healthcare

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.