AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Trims Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd decreased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 49.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 17,850 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,643 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $5,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HCA. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 3,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,148,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. now owns 2,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $727,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 1,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 43.4% during the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at $990,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HCA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen cut their target price on HCA Healthcare from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 1.8 %

HCA opened at $316.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $80.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $289.98 and a 12 month high of $417.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $313.23 and a 200 day moving average of $352.25.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly 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 last year, the company earned $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 0.91%. 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 payout ratio is 12.02%.

HCA Healthcare 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.