Prakash Investment Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Prakash Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 66.7% during the fourth quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 10,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,152,000 after purchasing an additional 4,200 shares during the period. TBH Global Asset Management LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. TBH Global Asset Management LLC now owns 7,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,125,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,307,000 after buying an additional 972 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 1,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $455,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 4,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,277,000 after buying an additional 946 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

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 stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HCA. StockNews.com downgraded HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on 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 dropped their price target 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. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE:HCA opened at $321.46 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $79.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $313.49 and its 200-day moving average is $351.08. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year 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, 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 earned $5.90 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.02%.

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.