HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Position Increased by Wedbush Securities Inc.

Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 19.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 794 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 209,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,938,000 after purchasing an additional 26,208 shares during the period. Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda. acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at $540,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at about $17,370,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HCA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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 note on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $335.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $82.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $327.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $337.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $417.14.

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

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

HCA Healthcare 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.