DaVita (NYSE:DVA) Lifted to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of DaVita (NYSE:DVA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

DVA has been the subject of several other reports. Truist Financial raised 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. Barclays started coverage on DaVita in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an equal weight rating and a $133.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on DaVita from $113.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, TheStreet raised DaVita from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $118.50.

DaVita Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of DaVita stock opened at $133.51 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.65. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $132.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.04. DaVita has a twelve month low of $71.51 and a twelve month high of $141.54.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.34. DaVita had a return on equity of 64.42% and a net margin of 5.70%. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that DaVita will post 9.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at DaVita

In other news, insider James O. Hearty sold 26,164 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 20,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,424,384.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, COO Michael David Staffieri sold 29,488 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.81, for a total transaction of $3,532,957.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,687 shares in the company, valued at $4,515,279.47. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider James O. Hearty sold 26,164 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 20,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,424,384.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,540 shares of company stock valued at $16,551,071 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of DaVita

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in DaVita by 421.8% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,095,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,518,000 after buying an additional 885,195 shares in the last quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC bought a new position in DaVita during the fourth quarter valued at about $89,504,000. Doma Perpetual Capital Management LLC bought a new position in DaVita during the fourth quarter valued at about $53,076,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in DaVita during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,626,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of DaVita by 21.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,667,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,606,000 after purchasing an additional 292,767 shares during the last quarter. 90.12% of the stock is currently 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.