Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH)

Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CYH) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 5,385 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 182% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,909 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Community Health Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Whitebox Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Community Health Systems by 43.3% in the second quarter. Whitebox Advisors LLC now owns 3,020,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,150,000 after acquiring an additional 913,542 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Community Health Systems by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,748,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,875,000 after purchasing an additional 43,145 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Community Health Systems by 6.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,616,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,810,000 after purchasing an additional 91,985 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can purchased a new position in Community Health Systems in the second quarter valued at $3,692,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Community Health Systems by 51.0% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 942,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,166,000 after buying an additional 318,333 shares in the last quarter. 84.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Community Health Systems Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of CYH opened at $3.07 on Friday. Community Health Systems has a fifty-two week low of $2.51 and a fifty-two week high of $6.29. The company has a market cap of $426.57 million, a P/E ratio of -1.02 and a beta of 1.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $3.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.42.

Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.33) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Community Health Systems will post -0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CYH shares. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Community Health Systems from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Community Health Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $5.00 to $2.50 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Community Health Systems from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Community Health Systems from $3.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Community Health Systems from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Community Health Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.77.

Community Health Systems Company Profile

Community Health Systems, Inc owns, leases, and operates general acute care hospitals in the United States. It offers general acute care, emergency room, general and specialty surgery, critical care, internal medicine, obstetrics, diagnostic, psychiatric, and rehabilitation services, as well as skilled nursing and home care services.