Meridian Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,747 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in DaVita were worth $1,308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in DaVita by 134.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 54,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,885,000 after purchasing an additional 31,502 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in DaVita by 659.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 177,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,082,000 after purchasing an additional 154,061 shares in the last quarter. Atom Investors LP purchased a new stake in DaVita during the third quarter valued at $4,094,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in DaVita by 201.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,159,000 after purchasing an additional 49,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of DaVita in the third quarter valued at $726,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

DaVita Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE DVA opened at $141.70 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $160.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $158.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.18. The stock has a market cap of $11.34 billion, a PE ratio of 13.19, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.94. DaVita Inc. has a 12 month low of $125.64 and a 12 month high of $179.60.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.10. DaVita had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 115.48%. Equities research analysts forecast that DaVita Inc. will post 10.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DVA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of DaVita in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of DaVita from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $184.00 target price on shares of DaVita in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.