National Bank of Canada FI Increases Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 156,462 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.06% of HCA Healthcare worth $46,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 13,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at about $64,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 20,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,243,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 353,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,164,000 after purchasing an additional 9,015 shares during the period. Finally, RWA Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $560,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HCA. Barclays cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $345.86 on Wednesday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14. The company has a market cap of $85.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $325.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $340.25. 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 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $5.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.30% 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.