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

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

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays began coverage on DaVita in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an equal weight rating and a $133.00 price target for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of DaVita from $113.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. TheStreet raised shares of DaVita from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of DaVita from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $118.50.

DaVita Stock Performance

Shares of DVA opened at $126.11 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.06 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.65, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $130.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.79. DaVita has a 52 week low of $71.51 and a 52 week high of $141.54.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at DaVita

In related news, insider James O. Hearty sold 26,164 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.64, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, COO Michael David Staffieri sold 29,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were 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 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 at this hyperlink. Also, insider James O. Hearty sold 26,164 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.64, for a total transaction of $3,130,260.96. Following the transaction, 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 have sold a total of 134,540 shares of company stock worth $16,551,071 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DVA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of DaVita by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,320,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $662,161,000 after buying an additional 145,711 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of DaVita by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,083,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $412,295,000 after acquiring an additional 260,783 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of DaVita by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,606,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,847,000 after purchasing an additional 63,136 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of DaVita by 21.3% during 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of DaVita in the fourth quarter valued at $116,373,000. Institutional investors 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.