State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Decreases Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,586 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,509 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $21,487,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. 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. Canoe Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE:HCA opened at $316.18 on Tuesday. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $313.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $352.11. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. The stock has a market cap of $80.09 billion, a PE ratio of 14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.64.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.90 earnings per share. Analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on HCA. Oppenheimer raised their target price on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Raymond James cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial dropped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

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.