First Eagle Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in LifeStance Health Group, Inc. $LFST

Key Points

• First Eagle Investment Management increased its LifeStance Health Group stake by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 1,496,466 shares valued at about $10.5 million.
• Wall Street analysts are turning more bullish on LFST, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at Buy with an average target of $10.00.
• LifeStance reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, posting $0.04 EPS versus the $0.01 estimate and revenue of $403.48 million, up 21.2% year over year, while also authorizing a $100 million share repurchase program.

First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of LifeStance Health Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFST - Free Report) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,496,466 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 176,000 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned about 0.38% of LifeStance Health Group worth $10,535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in LifeStance Health Group by 19.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,613,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,374,000 after buying an additional 2,383,728 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of LifeStance Health Group in the fourth quarter worth $787,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new position in shares of LifeStance Health Group in the third quarter worth $1,040,000. Integral Health Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of LifeStance Health Group in the third quarter worth $8,250,000. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of LifeStance Health Group in the third quarter worth $17,056,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LFST. KeyCorp boosted their price target on LifeStance Health Group from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on LifeStance Health Group from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on LifeStance Health Group from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded LifeStance Health Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, February 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded LifeStance Health Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $10.00.

LifeStance Health Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LFST opened at $7.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.74. LifeStance Health Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $3.74 and a 52-week high of $8.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a PE ratio of 132.17 and a beta of 1.20.

LifeStance Health Group (NASDAQ:LFST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.03. LifeStance Health Group had a return on equity of 1.56% and a net margin of 1.55%.The business had revenue of $403.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.46 million. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that LifeStance Health Group, Inc. will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

LifeStance Health Group declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 25th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other LifeStance Health Group news, Director Robert Bessler sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.55, for a total transaction of $641,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,236,948 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,575,905.40. The trade was a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Darren M. Black sold 4,314,939 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.01, for a total value of $30,247,722.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 29,209,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,760,529.76. This trade represents a 12.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 4,464,939 shares of company stock valued at $31,417,131 in the last three months. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

LifeStance Health Group Profile

LifeStance Health Group NASDAQ: LFST is a leading provider of outpatient mental health services in the United States. Headquartered in New York City, the company operates a growing network of clinics that deliver integrated, patient-centered psychological and psychiatric care. LifeStance’s mission is to expand access to high-quality mental health treatment by combining evidence-based therapy modalities with personalized treatment plans.

The company’s service offerings include individual, family, and group psychotherapy, psychiatric medication management, psychological assessment, and telehealth services.

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