HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Position Reduced by Cannell & Spears LLC

Cannell & Spears LLC cut its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,413 shares of the company’s stock after selling 980 shares during the period. Cannell & Spears LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $13,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HCA. Norges Bank acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth approximately $840,286,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 62.0% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,500,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $450,461,000 after buying an additional 574,239 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 120.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,264,000 after purchasing an additional 476,756 shares during the period. Meritage Group LP bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter worth about $150,548,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $74,121,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HCA. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America cut 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. Barclays reduced their target price on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. 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 research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $342.25 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $324.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $340.92. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14. 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 (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.90 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.