HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 38,778 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,672 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $11,639,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,838,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its stake 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 worth $3,153,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.6% in the third quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 2,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 700 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare 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 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. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a 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 issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE:HCA opened at $329.25 on Friday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $321.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $343.43. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The company has a market cap of $81.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm earned $5.90 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.11%.

About HCA Healthcare

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.