RWA Wealth Partners LLC Acquires 451 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,479 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. abrdn plc increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 164,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,444,000 after buying an additional 7,476 shares during the period. Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $10,085,000. DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 60,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,425,000 after buying an additional 7,476 shares during the period. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $1,100,000. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 623.3% during the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 43,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,701,000 after purchasing an additional 37,488 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on HCA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $356.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total transaction of $981,728.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,967.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total value of $981,728.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,967.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $513,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,385,552. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 over the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA opened at $319.14 on Thursday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $215.96 and a 52-week high of $335.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.18. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $324.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $293.84.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The business had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.64 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

HCA Healthcare 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.