Abiomed, Amedisys, Inc., Bio Rad Laboratories Inc and others reached higher-than-usual trading volumes.
Friday's session summary: Markets had an interesting day Friday; Dow Jones gained 1.65% and closed at 33,674. S&P 500 closed the day at 4,136.25, having gained 1.85%.
Why Trading Volume Matters
Trading volume is simply the total number of shares traded including both buy and sell orders. If a stock has appreciated on high volume, it is more likely to be a sustained move compared to an appreciation with low volume. Typically, high volume trading sessions are considered significant occurrences and closely watched by traders.
Price action was mostly bullish Friday with some healthcare stocks recording abnormally high trading volumes. Here's a recap:
Abiomed | 506% higher than rolling average
Friday's trading volume peaked at 15.70 million shares, thereby blitzing the daily average of 3.10 million by 506%.
The stock has been trending positively for about 3 months.
Amedisys | 374% higher than rolling average
Amedisys hit a significant low of $69.79 around a month ago, but has since recovered 15.3%. The stock has been trending positively for about a month. The US healthcare company's market cap currently stands at $2.57 billion with an average daily volume of 732,454 shares.
Trading volume was 2.74 million shares Friday — beating the daily average by a mammoth 374%.
Bio-Rad | 525% higher than rolling average
Trading volume peaked at 838,798 shares Friday, thereby obliterating the daily average of 159,784 by 525%.
The life sciences research company has shed 16.54% over the past three months. Bio-Rad Laboratories's bearish run has lasted 3 days so far (-$1.25).
The company reported earnings of 3.34 per share Thursday, falling short of expectations of 3.72. Revenue was also lower than expected at $676.84 million versus $689.83 million. Since the release of its earnings report, Bio-Rad Laboratories lost 16.95%
— Average trading volume refers to a 21-day rolling average.