DaVita (NYSE:DVA) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $169.12 and last traded at $168.37, with a volume of 216981 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $165.51.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DVA. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on DaVita from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on DaVita from $150.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America boosted their price target on DaVita from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on DaVita from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.80.

DaVita Trading Up 0.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $13.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.78, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.45.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.17). DaVita had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 88.18%. The firm had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that DaVita Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at DaVita

In other news, CEO Javier Rodriguez sold 9,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.85, for a total transaction of $1,609,120.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 887,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $144,583,929.75. This represents a 1.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joel Ackerman sold 64,029 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.06, for a total transaction of $9,928,336.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 111,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,286,243.86. This trade represents a 36.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 123,910 shares of company stock worth $19,789,958 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in DaVita in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in DaVita by 58.6% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in DaVita in the second quarter valued at $43,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in DaVita by 90.6% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in DaVita in the second quarter valued at $48,000. 90.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

DaVita Company Profile

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.