Sanders Capital LLC Has $3.50 Billion Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,655,563 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 116,826 shares during the quarter. HCA Healthcare makes up approximately 5.1% of Sanders Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Sanders Capital LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $3,498,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HCA. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth approximately $840,286,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 574,239 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,264,000 after buying an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth $74,121,000. Finally, Canoe Financial LP raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 226,952.9% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 231,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,513,000 after purchasing an additional 231,492 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the sale, the senior vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA opened at $333.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $417.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $327.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $336.54.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.90 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HCA has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

About HCA Healthcare

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.