Verus Capital Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA)

Verus Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) by 26.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,639 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in DaVita were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in DaVita by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 5,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $869,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in DaVita by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in DaVita by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $776,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its position in DaVita by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 1,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its position in DaVita by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $910,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 90.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on DVA shares. Barclays increased their price target on DaVita from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of DaVita in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $184.00 target price on DaVita in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.33.

DaVita Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DVA opened at $147.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.18, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.26. DaVita Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.70 and a fifty-two week high of $179.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $158.16.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that DaVita Inc. will post 10.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

DaVita 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.