California State Teachers Retirement System Lowers Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

California State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 297,861 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,242 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.12% of HCA Healthcare worth $89,403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Tidemark LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on HCA. Barclays cut their target price 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. StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim assumed coverage on HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $381.13.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $332.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $330.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $331.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. The company had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.26 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.36 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.81%.

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.