Short Interest in DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) Grows By 16.5%

DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,890,000 shares, a growth of 16.5% from the August 15th total of 2,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 642,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days. Currently, 3.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

DaVita Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of DaVita stock traded up $1.67 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $101.44. The stock had a trading volume of 316,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 664,546. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.13. The company has a market capitalization of $9.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $102.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.36. DaVita has a 52 week low of $65.28 and a 52 week high of $116.97.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. DaVita had a net margin of 3.98% and a return on equity of 60.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that DaVita will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Kathleen Alyce Waters sold 9,794 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.81, for a total value of $997,127.14. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 81,297 shares in the company, valued at $8,276,847.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On DaVita

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in DaVita during the fourth quarter worth $116,373,000. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of DaVita by 226.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 659,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,592,000 after purchasing an additional 457,285 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in DaVita by 6,031.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 366,813 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,854,000 after purchasing an additional 360,831 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in DaVita by 37.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,232,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,042,000 after purchasing an additional 339,051 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in DaVita by 912.4% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 338,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,249,000 after buying an additional 304,739 shares during the last quarter. 84.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut DaVita from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 13th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of DaVita from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 13th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded DaVita from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $142.00 in a report on Monday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.29.

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.