Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD Reduces Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD decreased its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,556 shares of the company’s stock after selling 128 shares during the quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $467,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James downgraded HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA stock opened at $330.11 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The business has a 50 day moving average of $316.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $347.69. The company has a market cap of $81.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.03, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS 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 business earned $5.90 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

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.