HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) SVP Jennifer Berres Sells 9,533 Shares of Stock

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.2 %

HCA opened at $316.95 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $313.18 and its 200-day moving average is $351.78. The company has a market cap of $80.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.43, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year high of $417.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $5.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. 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. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 12.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,655,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,498,417,000 after buying an additional 116,826 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,503,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,351,830,000 after acquiring an additional 23,177 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,871,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,159,882,000 after purchasing an additional 50,321 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after buying an additional 2,397,883 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $878,975,000 after buying an additional 19,121 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HCA has been the subject of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America decreased 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 note on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

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.