LifeStance Health Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFST) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Nine brokerages give LFST an average rating of Moderate Buy (6 buys, 2 holds, 1 strong buy) with a 12‑month consensus target price of $9.83.
• LifeStance reported Q4 EPS of $0.03, missing estimates of $0.05, while revenue of $382.2M topped expectations and rose 17.4% year‑over‑year; analysts forecast -$0.18 EPS for the current year.
• The board authorized a $100 million share repurchase (about 3.6% of shares) even as director Darren M. Black sold 4.31M shares; institutional investors hold 85.5% of shares.

LifeStance Health Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFST - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $9.8333.

LFST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of LifeStance Health Group from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of LifeStance Health Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, February 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of LifeStance Health Group from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of LifeStance Health Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of LifeStance Health Group from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th.

LifeStance Health Group Price Performance

Shares of LFST opened at $6.40 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of 320.16 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.47. LifeStance Health Group has a 1-year low of $3.74 and a 1-year high of $8.09.

LifeStance Health Group (NASDAQ:LFST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $382.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $378.51 million. LifeStance Health Group had a net margin of 0.68% and a return on equity of 0.65%. LifeStance Health Group's quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.01) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that LifeStance Health Group will post -0.18 EPS for the current year.

LifeStance Health Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 25th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Darren M. Black sold 4,314,939 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.01, for a total transaction of $30,247,722.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 29,209,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,760,529.76. The trade was a 12.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LFST. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in LifeStance Health Group by 63.4% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 70,248 shares of the company's stock worth $468,000 after buying an additional 27,244 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in LifeStance Health Group by 223.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 51,500 shares of the company's stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 35,554 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in LifeStance Health Group by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 142,950 shares of the company's stock worth $952,000 after buying an additional 4,169 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in LifeStance Health Group by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 615,652 shares of the company's stock worth $4,100,000 after buying an additional 11,331 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in LifeStance Health Group by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 550,657 shares of the company's stock worth $2,847,000 after buying an additional 51,154 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.50% of the company's stock.

LifeStance Health Group Company 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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