Analysts Set DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) Target Price at $166.33

Shares of DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $166.33.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $184.00 target price on shares of DaVita in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of DaVita from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of DaVita in a report on Tuesday, February 18th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DaVita

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in DaVita by 134.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 54,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,885,000 after buying an additional 31,502 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of DaVita by 659.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 177,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,082,000 after acquiring an additional 154,061 shares during the last quarter. Atom Investors LP purchased a new stake in DaVita in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,094,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in DaVita by 201.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,617 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,159,000 after purchasing an additional 49,885 shares during the period. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of DaVita in the 3rd quarter valued at $726,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

DaVita Trading Up 4.0 %

NYSE:DVA opened at $149.22 on Friday. DaVita has a 1 year low of $125.64 and a 1 year high of $179.60. The stock has a market cap of $11.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.18, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.62.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.10. DaVita had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 115.48%. As a group, analysts anticipate that DaVita will post 10.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.