HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Mission Wealth Management LP

Mission Wealth Management LP lowered its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,904 shares of the company’s stock after selling 152 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. FMR LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after buying an additional 2,397,883 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,264,000 after buying an additional 476,756 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Group LP acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $150,548,000. Canoe Financial LP lifted 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 purchasing an additional 231,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 43,546.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 223,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,074,000 after purchasing an additional 222,956 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 2.6 %

HCA opened at $320.03 on Thursday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. The company has a market cap of $79.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $315.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $348.17.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is 13.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HCA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

About HCA Healthcare

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.