Citigroup Lowers Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY) Price Target to $38.00

Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY) had its price target lowered by Citigroup from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock.

SGRY has been the subject of several other reports. StockNews.com upgraded Surgery Partners from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of Surgery Partners in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Barclays started coverage on Surgery Partners in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark reissued a buy rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Surgery Partners in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Surgery Partners in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $43.13.

Surgery Partners Stock Up 1.8 %

Surgery Partners stock traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $27.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 131,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 920,687. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.57. Surgery Partners has a 52-week low of $22.05 and a 52-week high of $45.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -271.70, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 2.75.

Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.07. Surgery Partners had a positive return on equity of 3.65% and a negative net margin of 0.43%. The company had revenue of $735.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $741.93 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Surgery Partners will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jason Eric Evans sold 4,840 shares of Surgery Partners stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.71, for a total transaction of $143,796.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 459,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,656,795.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Bradley R. Owens sold 1,040 shares of Surgery Partners stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.22, for a total value of $36,628.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 73,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,576,307.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jason Eric Evans sold 4,840 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.71, for a total transaction of $143,796.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 459,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,656,795.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 14,664 shares of company stock worth $477,225. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Surgery Partners

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SGRY. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Surgery Partners by 23.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,022,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,664,000 after buying an additional 1,511,396 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new position in Surgery Partners in the third quarter worth about $42,705,000. Iron Triangle Partners LP acquired a new position in Surgery Partners in the fourth quarter worth about $33,415,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Surgery Partners in the fourth quarter worth about $25,765,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Surgery Partners by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,417,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,289,000 after purchasing an additional 698,845 shares in the last quarter.

About Surgery Partners

Surgery Partners, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates a network of surgical facilities and ancillary services in the United States. The company provides ambulatory surgery centers and surgical hospitals that offer non-emergency surgical procedures in various specialties, including orthopedics and pain management, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, and general surgery.