Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 700 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $2,941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Waldron Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.8% in the third quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $683,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.6% in the third quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,086,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. BayBridge Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.0% in the third quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.4% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $623,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 10,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,153,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on HCA shares. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $321.95 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $313.26 and a 200-day moving average of $352.76. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14. 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 company has a market capitalization of $81.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.64.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (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 prior year, the company earned $5.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.02%.

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.