Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Ardent Health, Inc. (NYSE:ARDT) shares gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $13.00 to $12.00. The stock had previously closed at $10.07, but opened at $9.25. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Ardent Health shares last traded at $9.3790, with a volume of 87,144 shares.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on ARDT. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ardent Health in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Zacks Research raised Ardent Health from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ardent Health from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ardent Health from $13.00 to $13.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Ardent Health from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ardent Health has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Alfred Lumsdaine acquired 10,000 shares of Ardent Health stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.81 per share, with a total value of $88,100.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 329,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,900,102.23. This trade represents a 3.13% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goldentree Asset Management LP raised its holdings in Ardent Health by 99.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldentree Asset Management LP now owns 2,303,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,302,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150,000 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ardent Health by 8.2% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,769,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,444,000 after acquiring an additional 134,513 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ardent Health by 44.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,352,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,923,000 after purchasing an additional 416,348 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ardent Health by 6.6% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,269,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,822,000 after purchasing an additional 78,861 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ardent Health by 108.2% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 946,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,358,000 after purchasing an additional 491,961 shares during the period.

Ardent Health Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.61 and a 200-day moving average of $9.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.76.

Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.10. Ardent Health had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.09%.The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Ardent Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.900-1.270 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ardent Health, Inc. will post 1.1 EPS for the current year.

About Ardent Health

Ardent Health, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ARDT, is a healthcare delivery company focused on acquiring, developing and managing acute care hospitals and complementary outpatient facilities across the United States. The company’s integrated platform encompasses both inpatient and outpatient services, designed to provide end-to-end care solutions and address the full continuum of patient needs.

Through its network, Ardent Health operates general hospitals, emergency departments, ambulatory surgery centers, urgent care clinics, rehabilitation and post-acute care facilities.