Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 897 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $269,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of HCA. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 3.1 %

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. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $318.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $346.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $289.98 and a 12 month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $5.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HCA. Wells Fargo & Company cut HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.