Cannell & Spears LLC Lowers Position in DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA)

Cannell & Spears LLC reduced its stake in DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,470 shares of the company’s stock after selling 810 shares during the period. Cannell & Spears LLC’s holdings in DaVita were worth $3,959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of DaVita by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 609,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,846,000 after acquiring an additional 92,014 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in DaVita by 116.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 446,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,726,000 after purchasing an additional 240,126 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in DaVita by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 316,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,281,000 after purchasing an additional 2,636 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of DaVita by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 264,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,712,000 after buying an additional 12,339 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of DaVita by 75.1% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 196,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,430,000 after buying an additional 84,375 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut DaVita from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 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 report on Tuesday, February 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $184.00 target price on shares of DaVita in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of DaVita in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.33.

DaVita Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of DaVita stock opened at $153.18 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.18. DaVita Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.64 and a 52-week high of $179.60. The company has a market capitalization of $12.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $157.13 and a 200 day moving average of $157.52.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 115.48%. As a group, research analysts forecast that DaVita Inc. will post 10.76 EPS 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.