Spire Wealth Management Raises Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 15.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,765 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $796,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $54,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $316.59.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE HCA opened at $309.42 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $81.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.42, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.96 and a 52 week high of $335.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $321.53 and its 200 day moving average is $298.85.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The company had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.93 EPS. HCA Healthcare’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.74 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,055 shares of company stock worth $2,503,100. Company insiders own 1.70% 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.