First Horizon Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,476 shares of the company’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Activest Wealth Management raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp cut their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HCA opened at $319.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $313.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $350.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $79.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.53, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.90 earnings per share. 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.11%.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.