HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,828,426 shares of the company’s stock after selling 189,518 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 6.25% of HCA Healthcare worth $4,750,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Tidemark LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on HCA. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 1.6 %

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $334.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $82.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $289.98 and a 12 month high of $417.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $322.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $342.26.

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 net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

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.