HighTower Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA)

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) by 31.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 16,037 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,298 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in DaVita were worth $2,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in DaVita by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $955,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of DaVita by 49.4% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 8,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 2,688 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in DaVita in the third quarter valued at about $669,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in DaVita during the third quarter valued at approximately $923,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in DaVita during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,042,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DVA has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of DaVita from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of DaVita from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of DaVita in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $184.00 price objective on DaVita in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, DaVita presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.33.

DaVita Stock Performance

Shares of DaVita stock opened at $148.25 on Friday. DaVita Inc. has a 12 month low of $125.64 and a 12 month high of $179.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.18. The stock has a market cap of $11.86 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.51.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.10. DaVita had a return on equity of 115.48% and a net margin of 7.31%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that DaVita Inc. will post 10.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.