LifeStance Health Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFST) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

LifeStance Health Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFST) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 13,430,000 shares, a growth of 12.2% from the September 15th total of 11,970,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.2 days. Approximately 12.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

LifeStance Health Group Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of LFST opened at $7.10 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.08. LifeStance Health Group has a twelve month low of $4.64 and a twelve month high of $9.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.79 and a beta of 1.24.

LifeStance Health Group (NASDAQ:LFST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $312.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $305.85 million. LifeStance Health Group had a negative return on equity of 10.51% and a negative net margin of 13.05%. The company’s revenue was up 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.13) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that LifeStance Health Group will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of LifeStance Health Group from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group cut their price target on LifeStance Health Group from $9.00 to $7.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at LifeStance Health Group

In related news, insider Ann Varanakis sold 5,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.28, for a total value of $33,089.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 263,007 shares in the company, valued at $1,651,683.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LFST. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of LifeStance Health Group by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,668,966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,318,000 after purchasing an additional 95,197 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of LifeStance Health Group by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,938,323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,959,000 after acquiring an additional 12,629 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in LifeStance Health Group by 82.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,016,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,991,000 after purchasing an additional 457,930 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in LifeStance Health Group in the second quarter worth $4,326,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in LifeStance Health Group by 3.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 451,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,215,000 after purchasing an additional 15,309 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.50% of the company’s stock.

About LifeStance Health Group

LifeStance Health Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides outpatient mental health services to children, adolescents, adults, and geriatrics in the United States. The company offers patients a suite of mental health services, including psychiatric evaluations and treatment, psychological, and neuropsychological testing, as well as individual, family, and group therapy.