HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Stock Position Trimmed by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB decreased its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 196,389 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,271 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $58,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,883 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 120.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,264,000 after buying an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Group LP acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $150,548,000. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 226,952.9% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 231,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,513,000 after buying an additional 231,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 210.6% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 306,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,691,000 after purchasing an additional 208,015 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HCA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America lowered their price target on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $320.82 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $313.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $351.29. 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 issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business earned $5.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 12.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.