Intech Investment Management LLC Raises Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,802 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,492 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $21,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Syon Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at about $440,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 13.7% during the third quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 24,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,004,000 after acquiring an additional 2,938 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 7.1% during the third quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 13,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,386,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 27.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 162,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,857,000 after purchasing an additional 34,533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 10.4% during the third quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 11,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,474. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,617 shares of company stock valued at $4,321,986. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock traded up $3.38 during trading on Friday, hitting $318.70. 814,302 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 994,269. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.96 and a 52 week high of $335.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $318.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $305.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.66.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 674.49%. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.93 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HCA. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $356.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $317.00.

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.