Amalgamated Bank Sells 1,005 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Amalgamated Bank reduced its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,348 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,005 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $10,910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,276,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,883 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 11.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,669,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,842,000 after buying an additional 174,946 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,487,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $604,511,000 after buying an additional 41,190 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,339,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $544,467,000 after acquiring an additional 143,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,264,000 after purchasing an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HCA. Raymond James downgraded HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. One equities research 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 4.3 %

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $333.30 on Wednesday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year high of $417.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $314.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $350.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 posted $5.90 earnings per share. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

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.