First Eagle Investment Management LLC Buys 23,177 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,503,849 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,177 shares during the period. HCA Healthcare makes up 3.0% of First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned about 1.78% of HCA Healthcare worth $1,351,830,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Carret Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 11,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,593,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 19,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,861,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 170,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,969,000 after purchasing an additional 8,769 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $2,904,000. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 43,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,981,000 after buying an additional 7,945 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE HCA opened at $314.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $77.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $318.53 and its 200-day moving average is $346.05. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HCA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James cut HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Company Profile

HCA Healthcare, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates hospitals and related healthcare entities in the United States. It operates general and acute care hospitals that offers medical and surgical services, including inpatient care, intensive care, cardiac care, diagnostic, and emergency services; and outpatient services, such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy.