New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 23,431 HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 23,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,033,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HCA. Norges Bank bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $840,286,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 62.0% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,500,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $450,461,000 after buying an additional 574,239 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,264,000 after acquiring an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Group LP bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at approximately $150,548,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $74,121,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $341.94 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $323.90 and a 200-day moving average of $341.86. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. The stock has a market cap of $84.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

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

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on HCA. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America dropped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

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.