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

Smith Group Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAH) by 71.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 89,979 shares of the company’s stock after selling 223,291 shares during the quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Aveanna Healthcare were worth $1,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aveanna Healthcare in the second quarter valued at $63,504,000. Braidwell LP increased its stake in Aveanna Healthcare by 39.1% in the second quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 3,065,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,268,000 after purchasing an additional 861,600 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Aveanna Healthcare by 49.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,334,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,593,000 after purchasing an additional 441,707 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Aveanna Healthcare by 4.3% in the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 927,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,970,000 after purchasing an additional 38,600 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Aveanna Healthcare in the second quarter valued at $7,881,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVAH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Aveanna Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Aveanna Healthcare from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Aveanna Healthcare from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Aveanna Healthcare from $9.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Aveanna Healthcare from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aveanna Healthcare has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.25.

Aveanna Healthcare Stock Up 2.8%

NASDAQ AVAH opened at $13.06 on Thursday. Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $5.93 and a 12 month high of $14.71. The company has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.62, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.47, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.21.

Aveanna Healthcare (NASDAQ:AVAH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.05. Aveanna Healthcare had a return on equity of 80.70% and a net margin of 10.56%. The business had revenue of $670.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $638.61 million. Equities research analysts expect that Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aveanna Healthcare

In other news, CEO Jeff Shaner sold 90,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.50, for a total value of $1,035,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,561,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,462,678. This represents a 3.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder J.H. Whitney Equity Partners V sold 12,496,077 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.50, for a total value of $143,704,885.50. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 48,566,081 shares of company stock worth $558,509,932 over the last 90 days. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Aveanna Healthcare

Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: AVAH) is a provider of home-based healthcare services in the United States. The company serves patients across the lifespan, with a particular focus on children and adults who require ongoing medical support, skilled nursing or assistance with daily activities.

Aveanna’s services include private-duty nursing, home health care, hospice and palliative care, therapy, medical solutions and personal-care services. Its clinicians and caregivers support patients with complex medical conditions, disabilities and other needs in their homes and community settings, working with patients, families, physicians and healthcare organizations.

The company was established in 2016 through the combination of Pediatric Services of America and Epic Health Services and became a publicly traded company in 2021.