Benchmark Reiterates Buy Rating for Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY)

Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by stock analysts at Benchmark in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark's target price would suggest a potential upside of 103.00% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on SGRY. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Surgery Partners in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays initiated coverage on Surgery Partners in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Surgery Partners from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $49.00 price objective on shares of Surgery Partners in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Surgery Partners from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.63.

Surgery Partners Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of SGRY traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $24.63. The company had a trading volume of 686,742 shares, compared to its average volume of 889,354. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.76. Surgery Partners has a 52 week low of $22.05 and a 52 week high of $45.79. The company has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -246.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 2.71.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Surgery Partners news, insider Bradley R. Owens sold 1,040 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,576,307.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Bradley R. Owens sold 1,040 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.22, for a total transaction of $36,628.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 73,149 shares in the company, valued at $2,576,307.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jason Eric Evans sold 4,840 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.71, for a total value of $143,796.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 18,774 shares of company stock worth $608,352. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SGRY. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Surgery Partners by 38.7% in the 1st quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,151 shares of the company's stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 2,551 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Surgery Partners by 33.7% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 421,137 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,563,000 after acquiring an additional 106,054 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Surgery Partners by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,073 shares of the company's stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,409 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Surgery Partners by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 508,488 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,168,000 after acquiring an additional 2,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. bought a new position in shares of Surgery Partners in the 1st quarter valued at about $766,000.

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.