Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Acquires 11,395 Shares of DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its holdings in DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) by 57.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 31,292 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,395 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in DaVita were worth $4,680,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DVA. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in DaVita by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,589,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,716,000 after purchasing an additional 275,284 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in DaVita by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 740,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,783,000 after purchasing an additional 82,326 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in DaVita by 116.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 446,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,726,000 after purchasing an additional 240,126 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in DaVita by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 392,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,687,000 after purchasing an additional 102,230 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. bought a new stake in DaVita during the fourth quarter worth about $55,100,000. Institutional investors own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

DaVita Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NYSE DVA opened at $140.10 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.18. DaVita Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.44 and a 12 month high of $179.60. The company has a market cap of $10.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.04, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $145.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.58.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.25. DaVita had a return on equity of 115.48% and a net margin of 7.31%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.26 EPS. DaVita’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that DaVita Inc. will post 10.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on DVA. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of DaVita from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of DaVita from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $184.00 price objective on shares of DaVita in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cowen reissued 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, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $166.33.

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.