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

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on DVA. Truist Financial increased their price target on DaVita from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. UBS Group increased their price target on DaVita from $113.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. TheStreet upgraded DaVita from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on DaVita in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $133.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.50.

DaVita Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of DVA stock opened at $133.50 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.71 billion, a PE ratio of 18.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04. DaVita has a fifty-two week low of $71.51 and a fifty-two week high of $141.54. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.65, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.19.

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

Insider Activity at DaVita

In related news, COO Michael David Staffieri sold 29,488 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 37,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,515,279.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Michael David Staffieri sold 29,488 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 37,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,515,279.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider James O. Hearty sold 26,164 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,424,384.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 134,540 shares of company stock valued at $16,551,071. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DaVita

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DVA. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in DaVita during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of DaVita in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of DaVita in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of DaVita in the fourth quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of DaVita by 242.3% in the third quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

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.