HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Acquired by Treasurer of the State of North Carolina

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 104,705 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,825 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $31,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Tidemark LLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on HCA shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim began coverage on HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued 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.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA opened at $335.35 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $327.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $337.04. The firm has a market cap of $82.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the firm posted $5.90 EPS. 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 was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 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.