Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Trims Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich trimmed its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 98.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 118 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,009 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $39,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 31.7% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 17,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,241,000 after purchasing an additional 4,285 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Group LP bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter worth about $150,548,000. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $18,044,000. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter worth about $869,000. Finally, NRI Wealth Management LC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $2,896,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James cut HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 report on Monday, November 25th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value 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 approximately $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 3.8 %

HCA opened at $323.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $79.60 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. 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 $317.93 and a 200-day moving average of $346.50. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its 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 firm 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 business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date 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 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.