Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.1818.

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Surgery Partners in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Surgery Partners in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Surgery Partners from $31.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Surgery Partners from $28.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Surgery Partners from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th.

Surgery Partners Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of SGRY stock opened at $13.36 on Friday. Surgery Partners has a fifty-two week low of $11.41 and a fifty-two week high of $24.10. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.27, a P/E/G ratio of 9.68 and a beta of 1.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.12. Surgery Partners had a positive return on equity of 1.04% and a negative net margin of 2.28%.The business had revenue of $810.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $797.69 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Surgery Partners will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Surgery Partners announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 9.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Marissa Brittenham sold 3,657 shares of Surgery Partners stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.54, for a total transaction of $45,858.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 94,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,181,217.84. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Baldock sold 5,798 shares of Surgery Partners stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.17, for a total value of $76,359.66. Following the sale, the insider owned 326,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,299,662.58. This represents a 1.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 96,896 shares of company stock worth $1,284,058 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Surgery Partners

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SGRY. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Surgery Partners by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 13,537,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,162,000 after buying an additional 501,401 shares during the period. Pentwater Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Surgery Partners by 66.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP now owns 11,681,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,777,000 after buying an additional 4,681,000 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Surgery Partners by 111.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 7,803,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,571,000 after buying an additional 4,113,052 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Surgery Partners by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,614,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,778,000 after buying an additional 424,518 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Surgery Partners by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,296,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,131,000 after buying an additional 389,831 shares during the period.

Surgery Partners Company Profile

Surgery Partners, Inc operates as a healthcare services provider specializing in the management and ownership of ambulatory surgery centers, surgical hospitals and multispecialty rehabilitation hospitals across the United States. Through its network of facilities, the company coordinates and delivers a broad range of outpatient surgical procedures in specialties such as orthopedics, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, gastroenterology, pain management and general surgery. Its integrated platform offers ancillary services including on-site imaging, laboratory testing, infusion therapy and physical, occupational and speech rehabilitation.

Since its establishment in 2010 and subsequent public listing in 2015, Surgery Partners has focused on strategic partnerships with physicians and health systems to expand access to cost-effective outpatient care.