Cannell & Spears LLC Buys Shares of 15,300 Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY)

Cannell & Spears LLC purchased a new position in shares of Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 15,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Surgery Partners in the third quarter worth approximately $1,469,000. King Street Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in Surgery Partners in the third quarter worth approximately $46,748,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Surgery Partners by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,864,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,117,000 after purchasing an additional 42,897 shares during the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Surgery Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,688,000. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Surgery Partners in the 4th quarter valued at $374,000.

Surgery Partners Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of SGRY opened at $23.48 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.43. Surgery Partners, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.50 and a 52 week high of $33.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.92, a P/E/G ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 2.73.

Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $828.09 million. Surgery Partners had a positive return on equity of 2.85% and a negative net margin of 2.03%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Surgery Partners, Inc. will post 0.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Marissa Brittenham sold 3,156 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.09, for a total value of $76,028.04. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 63,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,527,498.72. This represents a 4.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Harrison R. Bane sold 56,315 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.64, for a total value of $1,443,916.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 107,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,744,428.68. This trade represents a 34.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 106,622 shares of company stock worth $2,717,860 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on SGRY. Macquarie lowered their target price on shares of Surgery Partners from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Surgery Partners in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Surgery Partners in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Surgery Partners from $38.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.63.

Surgery Partners Profile

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.