Allianz SE Takes Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Allianz SE bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 3,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,009,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HCA. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 31.7% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 17,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,241,000 after purchasing an additional 4,285 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Group LP bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at $150,548,000. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $18,044,000. NRI Wealth Management LC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,896,000. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 39,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE:HCA opened at $342.25 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $84.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $417.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $324.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $340.92.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earned $5.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. This represents 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 available at the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.