Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Sells 76 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators decreased its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,336 shares of the company’s stock after selling 76 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 1.7 %

HCA stock opened at $316.07 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $78.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $313.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $350.84. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $289.98 and a 12 month high of $417.14. 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 quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company 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 0.91%. 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. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.