Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $224,000 Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lowered its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 746 shares of the company’s stock after selling 121 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $224,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HCA. FMR LLC grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,883 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,264,000 after purchasing an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Group LP bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $150,548,000. Canoe Financial LP increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 226,952.9% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 231,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,513,000 after acquiring an additional 231,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 210.6% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 306,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,691,000 after purchasing an additional 208,015 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’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 represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 4.3 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $333.30 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $314.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $350.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $82.77 billion, a PE ratio of 15.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.90 EPS. Analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HCA. Truist Financial cut 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. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

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.