DaVita (NYSE:DVA) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on DVA. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of DaVita in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $184.00 target price on DaVita in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on DaVita from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.33.

DaVita Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:DVA traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $148.25. 1,036,193 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 783,765. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $157.48. DaVita has a one year low of $125.64 and a one year high of $179.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.99.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.10. DaVita had a return on equity of 115.48% and a net margin of 7.31%. Sell-side analysts expect that DaVita will post 10.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On DaVita

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of DaVita by 134.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 54,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,885,000 after buying an additional 31,502 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of DaVita by 659.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 177,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,082,000 after buying an additional 154,061 shares during the last quarter. Atom Investors LP purchased a new position in shares of DaVita in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,094,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of DaVita by 201.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,617 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,159,000 after buying an additional 49,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of DaVita in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $726,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

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.