DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) Short Interest Update

DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) saw a large increase in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,280,000 shares, an increase of 6.0% from the July 15th total of 4,980,000 shares. Currently, 6.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 824,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DVA. Barclays increased their price target on DaVita from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. TD Cowen increased their price target on DaVita from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Truist Financial increased their price target on DaVita from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America increased their price target on DaVita from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on DaVita from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at DaVita

In other news, insider Kathleen Alyce Waters sold 7,857 shares of DaVita stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.21, for a total transaction of $1,148,771.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 83,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,137,038.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other DaVita news, COO Michael David Staffieri sold 9,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.03, for a total transaction of $1,431,136.17. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 241,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,299,008.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathleen Alyce Waters sold 7,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.21, for a total value of $1,148,771.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 83,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,137,038.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DaVita

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DVA. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in DaVita by 58.6% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in DaVita in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in DaVita in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of DaVita in the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of DaVita by 90.6% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

DaVita Price Performance

DVA opened at $152.00 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $140.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.42. DaVita has a 12-month low of $71.51 and a 12-month high of $152.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94. The firm has a market cap of $13.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.29, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.87.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. DaVita had a return on equity of 77.00% and a net margin of 6.86%. DaVita’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that DaVita will post 9.9 earnings per share for the current year.

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.