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

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

Several other research firms also recently commented on DVA. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of DaVita from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of DaVita from $113.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. TheStreet raised shares of DaVita from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of DaVita in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $133.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.50.

DaVita Stock Down 0.4 %

DVA opened at $129.96 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $129.34 and a 200 day moving average of $108.29. The company has a market cap of $11.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.04. DaVita has a 12 month low of $71.51 and a 12 month high of $141.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.65.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. DaVita had a net margin of 5.70% and a return on equity of 64.42%. DaVita’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that DaVita will post 9.23 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Javier Rodriguez sold 67,603 shares of DaVita stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $8,525,414.33. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 488,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,629,578.67. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Javier Rodriguez sold 67,603 shares of DaVita stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $8,525,414.33. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 488,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,629,578.67. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathleen Alyce Waters sold 11,285 shares of DaVita stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.73, for a total transaction of $1,362,438.05. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 81,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,814,986.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,540 shares of company stock worth $16,551,071. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its position in shares of DaVita by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 15,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,670,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of DaVita by 18.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 657 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in shares of DaVita by 0.5% during the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 24,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,316,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Veritable L.P. boosted its position in shares of DaVita by 4.6% during the first quarter. Veritable L.P. now owns 3,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of DaVita by 3.7% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. 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.