Cerity Partners LLC Buys 5,340 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 29,695 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,340 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $12,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 53.3% in the 2nd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $369,472,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.7% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 741,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,110,000 after acquiring an additional 19,812 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 16.4% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 631,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,002,000 after acquiring an additional 88,948 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 550,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,802,000 after purchasing an additional 58,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 520,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,426,000 after buying an additional 11,861 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,363,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,445,700. The trade was a 6.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total value of $3,221,340.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,438,494.76. This trade represents a 21.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,155 shares of company stock valued at $5,608,990. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $328.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $83.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $376.47 and its 200-day moving average is $358.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $245.84 and a 12 month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 11.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on HCA. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $392.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on HCA Healthcare from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $380.29.

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.