Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE:FMS) Earns Strong-Buy Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

Stock analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE:FMS) in a report released on Saturday. The firm set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock.

Separately, Morgan Stanley cut Fresenius Medical Care from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.25.

Fresenius Medical Care Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of FMS stock opened at $20.97 on Friday. Fresenius Medical Care has a twelve month low of $16.37 and a twelve month high of $27.72. The stock has a market cap of $12.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $19.62 and a 200 day moving average of $19.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE:FMS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.11. Fresenius Medical Care had a net margin of 2.56% and a return on equity of 4.99%. The firm had revenue of $5.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.32 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fresenius Medical Care will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fresenius Medical Care

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FMS. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fresenius Medical Care in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fresenius Medical Care by 98.8% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 1,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Fresenius Medical Care by 349.3% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 1,799 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fresenius Medical Care during the fourth quarter worth $67,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fresenius Medical Care by 169.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 2,630 shares in the last quarter. 8.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Fresenius Medical Care

Fresenius Medical Care AG provides dialysis and related services for individuals with renal diseases in Germany, North America, and internationally. The company offers dialysis treatment and related laboratory and diagnostic services through a network of outpatient dialysis clinics; materials, training, and patient support services comprising clinical monitoring, follow-up assistance, and arranging for delivery of the supplies to the patient's residence; and dialysis services under contract to hospitals in the United States for the hospitalized end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and for patients suffering from acute kidney failure.