HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Acquired by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 483,610 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,167 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $130,904,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of HCA. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HCA shares. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.05.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE HCA traded up $8.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $318.65. 348,514 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,079,762. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $324.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $292.52. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $215.96 and a twelve month high of $335.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.85. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The business had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.64 EPS. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to buyback $6.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $513,240.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,646 shares in the company, valued at $2,385,552. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

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.