Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE:BKD) Short Interest Down 6.1% in December

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE:BKD) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,640,000 shares, a decline of 6.1% from the December 15th total of 9,200,000 shares. Currently, 4.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,980,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Brookdale Senior Living Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BKD opened at $5.00 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $5.24 and its 200-day moving average is $6.27. Brookdale Senior Living has a 52-week low of $4.70 and a 52-week high of $8.12.

Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE:BKD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by ($0.06). Brookdale Senior Living had a negative net margin of 6.75% and a negative return on equity of 59.06%. The business had revenue of $784.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $785.61 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.22) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brookdale Senior Living will post -0.68 earnings per share 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 that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total value of $56,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 211,382 shares in the company, valued at $1,187,966.84. The trade was a 4.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Brookdale Senior Living

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Brookdale Senior Living by 63.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,159,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,582,000 after buying an additional 1,228,473 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Brookdale Senior Living by 1.4% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,070,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,312,000 after acquiring an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new position in Brookdale Senior Living in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Brookdale Senior Living by 35.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,936,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,228,000 after acquiring an additional 506,114 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brookdale Senior Living during the second quarter valued at approximately $467,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Brookdale Senior Living in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company. Macquarie reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Brookdale Senior Living in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Brookdale Senior Living in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America cut Brookdale Senior Living from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $7.75 to $6.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.50.

About Brookdale Senior Living

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.