Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY) Stock Price Crosses Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY)’s share price passed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $13.35 and traded as high as $13.82. Surgery Partners shares last traded at $13.77, with a volume of 1,842,068 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on SGRY. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Surgery Partners in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Surgery Partners in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Surgery Partners from $31.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Surgery Partners from $28.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Surgery Partners from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Surgery Partners presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.18.

Surgery Partners Trading Down 1.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of -22.52, a PEG ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 1.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $13.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.58.

Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $810.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $797.69 million. Surgery Partners had a positive return on equity of 1.04% and a negative net margin of 2.28%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Surgery Partners, Inc. will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Surgery Partners announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 9.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Surgery Partners

In other news, insider Marissa Brittenham sold 3,657 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.54, for a total value of $45,858.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 94,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,181,217.84. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Danielle Burkhalter sold 3,469 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.83, for a total transaction of $44,507.27. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 76,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $986,165.12. This trade represents a 4.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 95,102 shares of company stock valued at $1,259,193. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Surgery Partners

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Surgery Partners by 97.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,239,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,781,000 after acquiring an additional 613,505 shares in the last quarter. Irenic Capital Management LP grew its stake in Surgery Partners by 740.2% during the first quarter. Irenic Capital Management LP now owns 711,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,475,000 after acquiring an additional 626,380 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Surgery Partners by 38.5% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 113,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,355,000 after acquiring an additional 31,599 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in Surgery Partners by 435.0% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 82,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $984,000 after acquiring an additional 67,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Surgery Partners during the first quarter valued at $235,000.

About Surgery Partners

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.