HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Stock Position Decreased by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI trimmed its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 32.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,899 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,197 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $34,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. abrdn plc grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 164,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,444,000 after buying an additional 7,476 shares in the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at about $10,085,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,100,000. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 60,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,425,000 after acquiring an additional 7,476 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 623.3% during the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 43,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,701,000 after purchasing an additional 37,488 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on HCA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $356.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $316.59.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE HCA traded up $0.97 during trading on Monday, reaching $308.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 346,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,090,979. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $335.83. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $322.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $298.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.86 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.93 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 5,482 shares of company stock valued at $1,705,124 in the last quarter. Corporate 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.