Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE:BKD) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE:BKD) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $5.30, but opened at $5.68. Brookdale Senior Living shares last traded at $5.26, with a volume of 546,266 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Macquarie restated an “outperform” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Brookdale Senior Living in a report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Brookdale Senior Living in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brookdale Senior Living has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.50.

Brookdale Senior Living Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.64 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.87.

Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE:BKD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $780.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $781.78 million. Brookdale Senior Living had a negative net margin of 6.75% and a negative return on equity of 59.06%. Analysts forecast that Brookdale Senior Living Inc. will post -0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brookdale Senior Living

In other Brookdale Senior Living news, Director Lee S. Wielansky sold 10,000 shares of Brookdale Senior Living stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total transaction of $56,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 211,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,966.84. The trade was a 4.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Brookdale Senior Living by 449.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 136,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $927,000 after buying an additional 111,686 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky acquired a new stake in shares of Brookdale Senior Living in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,775,000. Vision Capital Corp raised its position in shares of Brookdale Senior Living by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vision Capital Corp now owns 1,838,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,483,000 after acquiring an additional 400,000 shares during the period. Hedges Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Brookdale Senior Living by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC now owns 265,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 58,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Brookdale Senior Living by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,499,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,543,000 after purchasing an additional 95,700 shares during the period.

Brookdale Senior Living Company Profile

Brookdale Senior Living Inc owns, manages, and operates senior living communities in the United States. It operates in three segments: Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). The Independent Living segment owns or leases communities comprising independent and assisted living units in a single community that are primarily designed for middle to upper income seniors.