DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) Short Interest Up 9.2% in January

DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,410,000 shares, a growth of 9.2% from the December 31st total of 4,040,000 shares. Currently, 5.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 762,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on DaVita from $150.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of DaVita from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, DaVita has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $161.80.

DaVita Stock Performance

Shares of DaVita stock opened at $176.93 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $14.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.09, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.78, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.33. DaVita has a 1 year low of $108.76 and a 1 year high of $179.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $159.91 and its 200 day moving average is $155.57.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DaVita

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in DaVita by 0.3% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 45,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,269,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in DaVita by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of DaVita by 78.9% during the second quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $572,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in DaVita in the second quarter worth about $2,314,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of DaVita by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 13,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,279,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

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.