HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Holdings Trimmed by abrdn plc

abrdn plc trimmed its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 23.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 216,601 shares of the company’s stock after selling 64,642 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $64,704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 17,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,241,000 after acquiring an additional 4,285 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Group LP bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter worth about $150,548,000. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth approximately $18,044,000. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter worth about $869,000. Finally, NRI Wealth Management LC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth about $2,896,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on HCA. TD Cowen decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock opened at $335.31 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $313.52 and its 200-day moving average is $353.59. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.93 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.64.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the business posted $5.90 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 12.02%.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total transaction of $1,363,950.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,445,700. This represents a 6.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $1,023,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,415,579. The trade was a 29.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

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.