Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH)

Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CYH) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 14,766 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 678% compared to the average volume of 1,899 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CYH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Community Health Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $5.00 to $2.50 in a report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com cut Community Health Systems from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Community Health Systems from $5.00 to $3.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James lowered Community Health Systems from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Community Health Systems from $3.00 to $5.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.52.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Community Health Systems by 157.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,166,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,459,000 after buying an additional 2,550,678 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Community Health Systems by 2.5% during 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 during the period. Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in Community Health Systems in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,692,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Community Health Systems by 51.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Community Health Systems by 1,278.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 707,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,296,000 after buying an additional 656,447 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.99% of the company’s stock.

Community Health Systems Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE CYH traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $3.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 732,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,849,783. The stock has a market cap of $462.01 million, a PE ratio of -1.10 and a beta of 1.59. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.41. Community Health Systems has a 52 week low of $2.51 and a 52 week high of $6.29.

About Community Health Systems

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.