DaVita (NYSE:DVA) Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of DaVita (NYSE:DVA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of DaVita from $113.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. TheStreet upgraded DaVita from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on DaVita from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on DaVita from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, DaVita has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $121.33.

DaVita Price Performance

Shares of DVA stock opened at $135.84 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.95, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $134.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $114.05. DaVita has a 1-year low of $71.51 and a 1-year high of $145.04. The firm has a market cap of $11.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.04.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. DaVita had a return on equity of 68.52% and a net margin of 6.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that DaVita will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other DaVita news, insider James O. Hearty sold 26,164 shares of DaVita stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.64, for a total value of $3,130,260.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,424,384.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider James O. Hearty sold 26,164 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.64, for a total value of $3,130,260.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,424,384.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael David Staffieri sold 29,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.81, for a total value of $3,532,957.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,515,279.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 134,540 shares of company stock valued at $16,551,071. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of DaVita

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of DaVita in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in DaVita in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. purchased a new stake in DaVita during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in DaVita during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC increased its position in DaVita by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. 90.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About DaVita

DaVita Inc provides kidney dialysis services for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure in the United States. The company operates kidney dialysis centers and provides related lab services in outpatient dialysis centers. It also offers outpatient, hospital inpatient, and home-based hemodialysis services; operates clinical laboratories that provide routine laboratory tests for dialysis and other physician-prescribed laboratory tests for ESRD patients; and management and administrative services to outpatient dialysis centers.