Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Position in Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,618,404 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 172,271 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Surgery Partners worth $161,282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SGRY. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Surgery Partners by 66.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 1,577 shares in the last quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Surgery Partners by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 1,460 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Surgery Partners during the fourth quarter worth $245,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Surgery Partners during the fourth quarter valued at $273,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Surgery Partners by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 16,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 3,062 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SGRY has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Surgery Partners in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Surgery Partners in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Macquarie reduced their target price on Surgery Partners from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Harrison R. Bane sold 56,315 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.64, for a total value of $1,443,916.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 107,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,744,428.68. This represents a 34.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Marissa Brittenham sold 3,156 shares of Surgery Partners stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.09, for a total value of $76,028.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 63,408 shares in the company, valued at $1,527,498.72. This represents a 4.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 106,622 shares of company stock valued at $2,717,860 in the last three months. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Surgery Partners Stock Down 7.5 %

SGRY stock opened at $21.11 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.23. Surgery Partners, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.50 and a 12 month high of $33.97. The company has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.98, a PEG ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 2.40.

Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $828.09 million. Surgery Partners had a positive return on equity of 2.85% and a negative net margin of 2.03%. As a group, analysts forecast that Surgery Partners, Inc. will post 0.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Surgery Partners Company Profile

Surgery Partners, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates a network of surgical facilities and ancillary services in the United States. The company provides ambulatory surgery centers and surgical hospitals that offer non-emergency surgical procedures in various specialties, including orthopedics and pain management, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, and general surgery.