Short Interest in Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMED) Drops By 18.5%

Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMED - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,020,000 shares, a decrease of 18.5% from the April 30th total of 2,480,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 363,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.6 days. Currently, 6.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amedisys

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amedisys by 55.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 349 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Amedisys by 76.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,158 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Amedisys by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 487,444 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $44,255,000 after acquiring an additional 90,097 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of Amedisys by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 39,822 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $3,615,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of Amedisys by 448.3% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 20,737 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $1,882,000 after acquiring an additional 16,955 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.36% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AMED. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Amedisys in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Amedisys from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $101.00 price target on shares of Amedisys in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amedisys currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $100.75.

Amedisys Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ AMED traded up $0.08 on Wednesday, reaching $94.57. The stock had a trading volume of 367,543 shares, compared to its average volume of 409,479. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Amedisys has a 12-month low of $82.15 and a 12-month high of $98.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $93.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.64.

Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The health services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.12. Amedisys had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The company had revenue of $594.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $597.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amedisys will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Amedisys

Amedisys, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides healthcare services in the United States. It operates through three segments: Home Health, Hospice, and High Acuity Care. The Home Health segment offers a range of services in the homes of individuals for the recovery of patients from surgery, chronic disability, or terminal illness, as well as prevents avoidable hospital readmissions through its skilled nurses; nursing services, rehabilitation therapists specialized in physical, speech, and occupational therapy; and social workers and aides for assisting its patients.