HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Position Increased by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,952 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $3,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 18.1% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 18,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,351,000 after buying an additional 2,766 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter worth approximately $752,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 26.2% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.8% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 3,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,336,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 5.3% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 2,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James downgraded HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America dropped 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 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 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 $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 2.6 %

HCA opened at $330.11 on Friday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year high of $417.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The business has a 50 day moving average of $316.70 and a 200-day moving average of $347.49.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted 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 previous year, the business earned $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.