Short Interest in DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) Drops By 5.1%

DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,010,000 shares, a decline of 5.1% from the July 31st total of 5,280,000 shares. Approximately 6.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 823,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DVA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut DaVita from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 8th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of DaVita from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of DaVita from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on DaVita from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on DaVita from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One 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 an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.00.

DaVita Price Performance

DVA stock opened at $151.37 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $143.01 and a 200-day moving average of $138.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.86. DaVita has a 12 month low of $71.51 and a 12 month high of $156.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.94.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.12. DaVita had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 77.00%. The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that DaVita will post 9.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at DaVita

In other news, CFO Joel Ackerman sold 64,029 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.06, for a total value of $9,928,336.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 111,481 shares in the company, valued at $17,286,243.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other DaVita news, CEO Javier Rodriguez sold 32,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.93, for a total value of $5,017,203.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 905,659 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,219,407.87. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Joel Ackerman sold 64,029 shares of DaVita stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 111,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,286,243.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 113,601 shares of company stock worth $17,525,449. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in DaVita during the second quarter valued at approximately $9,615,000. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new stake in shares of DaVita during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,933,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of DaVita by 78.9% during the 2nd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $572,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in DaVita by 5.0% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in DaVita by 0.3% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 45,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,269,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.