Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Ardent Health, Inc. (NYSE:ARDT) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 1,230,480 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 199% from the previous session’s volume of 410,869 shares.The stock last traded at $8.87 and had previously closed at $9.30.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARDT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ardent Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Ardent Health from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Ardent Health from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Ardent Health in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Ardent Health from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $15.91.

Ardent Health Trading Down 2.8%

The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.21 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50 day moving average of $13.88 and a 200 day moving average of $13.36. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.10. Ardent Health had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 19.19%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Ardent Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.850-1.030 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Ardent Health, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardent Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Ardent Health by 75.6% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,634,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,332,000 after purchasing an additional 703,739 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ardent Health by 44.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,352,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,923,000 after acquiring an additional 416,348 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ardent Health by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 828,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,377,000 after acquiring an additional 11,429 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ardent Health by 367.2% in the second quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 790,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,800,000 after acquiring an additional 621,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 724,841 shares during the last quarter.

About Ardent Health

Ardent Health Partners, Inc owns and operates a network of hospitals and clinics that provides a range of healthcare services in the United States. It operates acute care hospitals, including rehabilitation hospitals and surgical hospitals. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Brentwood, Tennessee.