Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY) Short Interest Up 13.2% in April

Key Points

• Short interest rose 13.2% in April to 15,839,348 shares—about 12.6% of the float—with a short-interest ratio of 14.1 days, indicating elevated bearish positioning.
• Insiders sold roughly 96,896 shares (~$1.28M) over the past three months, including CEO sales, while the board approved a $200 million buyback (up to 9.7% of shares), signaling mixed insider/management signals on the stock.
• Analysts give SGRY a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $22.00, institutions (notably Millennium and Invesco) have added stakes, and the company posted a revenue beat but missed EPS ($0.12 vs. $0.31) in the most recent quarter.

Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 15,839,348 shares, a growth of 13.2% from the March 31st total of 13,997,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,120,717 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 14.1 days. Approximately 12.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Surgery Partners news, 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 value of $44,507.27. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 76,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $986,165.12. This represents a 4.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jason Eric Evans sold 20,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.47, for a total value of $254,388.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 920,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,477,213.42. The trade was a 2.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 96,896 shares of company stock worth $1,284,058 in the last three months. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SGRY. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Surgery Partners by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 45,693 shares of the company's stock worth $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 2,015 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Surgery Partners by 1,253.7% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 202,274 shares of the company's stock worth $4,804,000 after acquiring an additional 219,806 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Surgery Partners by 11.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,853 shares of the company's stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Surgery Partners in the second quarter worth about $219,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Surgery Partners by 7.4% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,683,311 shares of the company's stock worth $37,420,000 after acquiring an additional 115,627 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SGRY. US Capital Advisors set a $21.00 price target on Surgery Partners in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on Surgery Partners from $18.00 to $14.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Mizuho cut their price objective on Surgery Partners from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Surgery Partners in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $15.00 price objective on Surgery Partners in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Surgery Partners currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.00.

Surgery Partners Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of Surgery Partners stock opened at $14.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.63 and a beta of 1.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $13.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Surgery Partners has a twelve month low of $11.41 and a twelve month high of $24.18.

Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $885.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $866.54 million. Surgery Partners had a negative net margin of 2.35% and a positive return on equity of 1.28%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Surgery Partners will post 0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Surgery Partners declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 9.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Surgery Partners Company Profile

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.

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