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

Ardent Health, Inc. (NYSE:ARDT) 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 trading hands.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Alfred Lumsdaine purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.81 per share, for a total transaction of $88,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 329,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,900,102.23. The trade was a 3.13% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardent Health

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARDT. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Ardent Health by 103.8% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,000 after purchasing an additional 7,182 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Ardent Health by 1,684.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 767,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,558,000 after buying an additional 724,841 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in Ardent Health by 235.1% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 57,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $790,000 after buying an additional 40,318 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Ardent Health by 574.9% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 40,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 34,276 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ardent Health by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 286,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,918,000 after buying an additional 1,769 shares during the period.

Ardent Health Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a PE ratio of 9.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.27.

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