Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Cuts Stake in DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lessened its holdings in shares of DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) by 27.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,762 shares of the company’s stock after selling 670 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in DaVita were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in DaVita by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in DaVita by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in DaVita by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 891 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC increased its stake in DaVita by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 1,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of DaVita by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $910,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their target price on DaVita from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of DaVita in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $184.00 target price on DaVita in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of DaVita from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, DaVita currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $166.33.

DaVita Stock Performance

DVA opened at $140.91 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $146.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $154.61. DaVita Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.27 and a 1 year high of $179.60. The stock has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.18, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 anticipate that DaVita Inc. will post 10.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.