Prudential Financial Inc. Reduces Stock Position in DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA)

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) by 28.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 29,603 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,499 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in DaVita were worth $4,662,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in DaVita by 0.9% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 60,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,936,000 after buying an additional 520 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in DaVita by 659.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 177,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,082,000 after purchasing an additional 154,061 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its position in DaVita by 12.3% during the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 3,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in DaVita by 16.6% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in DaVita by 313.6% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 9,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,574,000 after buying an additional 7,281 shares in the last quarter. 90.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

DaVita Stock Performance

NYSE:DVA opened at $153.18 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.99. DaVita Inc. has a 1 year low of $125.64 and a 1 year high of $179.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $157.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $157.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.18, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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, equities analysts anticipate that DaVita Inc. will post 10.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DVA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of DaVita in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $184.00 price objective on shares of DaVita in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Barclays raised their price target on DaVita from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of DaVita from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.33.

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.