DaVita (NYSE:DVA) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $177.06, but opened at $154.00. DaVita shares last traded at $155.26, with a volume of 1,182,682 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of DaVita from $150.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.80.

DaVita Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $12.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.78, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.37.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.10. DaVita had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 88.18%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that DaVita Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of DaVita

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in DaVita by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of DaVita by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in shares of DaVita by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 5,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $869,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in DaVita by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in DaVita by 1.5% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $776,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. 90.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.