Billionaire Paul Singer Buying Alcoa Inc. (AA), North Tide Capital Selling Amedisys Inc. (AMED), Plus Two Other Moves

Lastly, according to a freshly-amended 13G filing, Conan Laughlin’s North Tide Capital LLC ceased to own more than 5% of Amedisys Inc. (NASDAQ:AMED)’s shares. The filing discloses an ownership stake of 1.52 million shares, which account for 4.5% of the company’s outstanding common stock. This compares to ownership of 4.00 million shares that North Tide Capital declared through its 13F filing for the September quarter. The multi-state provider of home health and hospice services has seen its shares advance by 29% over the past year despite encountering problems with its proprietary operating system AMS3. At the beginning of 2015, Amedisys Inc. (NASDAQ:AMED)’s beta testing efforts revealed that AMS3 was disruptive to operations, so the company decided to use another platform for home health and hospice companies called Homecare Homebase (HCHB). Hence, Amedisys anticipates an increase in operating costs associated with the implementation of HCHB, while the transition is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017.

Nonetheless, the company has experienced solid top-line growth in recent quarters, with its net service revenue for the nine months that ended September 30 increasing to $942.2 million from $904.0 million generated for the same period a year ago. It should also be mentioned that roughly 80% of the company’s revenue is derived from Medicare. Amedisys strives to grow its same store Medicare admission volumes and enhance its operating efficiency, the former of which appears to be an attainable task considering the aging U.S population. A total of 24 smart money investors from our system had stakes in the company at the end of the third quarter, amassing 17.50% of its shares. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management cut its stake in Amedisys Inc. (NASDAQ:AMED) by 49% during the third quarter to 283,357 shares.

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