Envision Healthcare, a giant hospital physician staffing firm, has seen its fifth-largest shareholder, Winslow Capital Management, sell its entire 4.6% stake in the company over the past three months, according to a financial disclosure filed Thursday.
Winslow Capital owned 8.6 million shares of Envision Healthcare on Sept. 30. That was three weeks before Envision Healthcare reported lower-than-expected third-quarter earnings and its stock price fell by almost 33% on Oct. 22, from $36.49 to $25.40.
In a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday, Winslow Capital revealed that it no longer owns any Evision shares.
Envision's price is still trading near the bottom of its 52-week range. Its price fell 93 cents,or 3.4%, Thursday to $26.41.
Winslow Capital did not return phone calls seeking comment. Asked whether Winslow Capital's stock divestiture reflected on Envision Healthcare, Envision's investor relations vice president, Bob Kneeley, said every shareholder makes decisions based on the information they receive and their own investing goals.
In an October earnings call, Envision CEO Bill Sanger acknowledged that the company's third-quarter earnings “were disappointing” given that adjusted EBITDA of $142.5 million was far lower than earlier guidance. Net revenue in the quarter grew 19% to $1.37 billion versus the year-earlier quarter.
Envision was one of several hospital companies and physician services firms that missed analyst earnings targets. Stocks such as Tenet Healthcare Corp. and Community Health Systems also saw big price dips after their third-quarter announcements. Envision ranked 10th on Modern Healthcare's 2015 list of the largest investor-owned provider companies.
Jeff Swearingen, managing director of healthcare investment banking firm Edgemont Capital Partners in New York City, said investors have started to worry that patient volume boosts from the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansions are starting to taper off. Those worries could be causing investors to rethink their positions in hospital companies and physician staffing companies, such as Envision, he said.
