HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund cut its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,640 shares of the company’s stock after selling 220 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $4,694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 570,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,173,000 after purchasing an additional 19,637 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 78.6% during the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $750,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 136,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,096,000 after acquiring an additional 2,348 shares during the last quarter. Keeler Thomas Management LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth approximately $797,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 9,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,835,000 after acquiring an additional 1,777 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $319.65 on Thursday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14. The company has a market capitalization of $79.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $314.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $350.12.

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

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

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.