Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Has $8.23 Million Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lessened its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 30,413 shares of the company’s stock after selling 836 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $8,232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CX Institutional raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 3.9% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 5.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 904 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at $206,000. Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 35,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,653,000 after purchasing an additional 10,755 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 10.6% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 152,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,504,000 after purchasing an additional 14,575 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.88.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $306.69 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $323.94 and a 200-day moving average of $295.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $335.83. The company has a market cap of $81.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. HCA Healthcare’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares in the company, valued at $789,470.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total value of $1,185,327.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,993. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.