Avanos Medical, Inc. (NYSE:AVNS) Short Interest Up 25.7% in February

Avanos Medical, Inc. (NYSE:AVNS) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 888,700 shares, a growth of 25.7% from the February 13th total of 707,000 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 492,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Insider Activity at Avanos Medical

In other Avanos Medical news, SVP Kerr Holbrook sold 7,000 shares of Avanos Medical stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.25, for a total value of $106,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 82,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,251,216.75. The trade was a 7.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avanos Medical

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AVNS. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Avanos Medical by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 25,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its stake in Avanos Medical by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 22,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,000 after buying an additional 755 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Avanos Medical by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $411,000 after buying an additional 901 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Avanos Medical by 63.0% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avanos Medical by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Avanos Medical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th.

Avanos Medical Price Performance

NYSE AVNS traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $14.66. The company had a trading volume of 514,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 285,343. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Avanos Medical has a twelve month low of $14.25 and a twelve month high of $25.36. The company has a market capitalization of $674.59 million, a PE ratio of 43.13 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.91.

Avanos Medical (NYSE:AVNS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. Avanos Medical had a return on equity of 4.70% and a net margin of 2.30%. The company had revenue of $179.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.23 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Avanos Medical will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Avanos Medical

Avanos Medical, Inc, a medical technology company, offers medical device solutions in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. It offers a portfolio of chronic care products that include digestive health products, such as Mic-Key enteral feeding tubes, Corpak patient feeding solutions, and NeoMed neonatal and pediatric feeding solutions.