ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd Invests $8.63 Million in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 28,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,627,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 5.5% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $746,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 14.8% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 5,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,326,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 17.2% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 762 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at about $103,000. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at about $325,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on HCA. 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 note on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In related 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 3.1 %

HCA opened at $313.49 on Thursday. 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 fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $318.19 and its 200 day moving average is $346.27. The stock has a market cap of $77.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.90 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.11%.

HCA Healthcare Company 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.