Sunpointe LLC Cuts Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Sunpointe LLC cut its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 913 shares of the company’s stock after selling 113 shares during the period. Sunpointe LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the 3rd 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 120.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,264,000 after acquiring an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Group LP purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $150,548,000. Canoe Financial LP increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 226,952.9% in 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 HCA Healthcare by 210.6% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 306,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,691,000 after acquiring an additional 208,015 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer boosted 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 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE:HCA opened at $320.82 on Thursday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The firm has a market cap of $81.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $313.30 and a 200-day moving average of $351.29. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the firm posted $5.90 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 12.02%.

Insider Activity

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.