HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by PGGM Investments

PGGM Investments trimmed its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 35,907 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,067 shares during the quarter. PGGM Investments’ holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $10,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after buying an additional 2,397,883 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,669,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,842,000 after purchasing an additional 174,946 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,487,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $604,511,000 after purchasing an additional 41,190 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 12.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,339,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $544,467,000 after buying an additional 143,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,149,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,885,000 after acquiring an additional 6,590 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on HCA shares. KeyCorp lowered their target price on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare 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 completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $313.49 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $77.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year high of $417.14. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $318.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $346.27.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.