HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Purchased by Denali Advisors LLC

Denali Advisors LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 78.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,500 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the quarter. Denali Advisors LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $750,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after buying an additional 2,397,883 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,669,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,842,000 after purchasing an additional 174,946 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,487,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $604,511,000 after purchasing an additional 41,190 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 12.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,339,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $544,467,000 after buying an additional 143,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,264,000 after buying an additional 476,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on HCA shares. Bank of America reduced their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays lowered their price objective 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA opened at $319.65 on Thursday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $314.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $350.12. 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 cap of $79.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the company earned $5.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

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.