Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Trims Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lowered its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,540 shares of the company’s stock after selling 924 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $31,077,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Activest Wealth Management raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth about $62,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on HCA shares. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Baird R W lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $381.67.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $334.38 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $328.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $333.73. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. The firm has a market cap of $82.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 prior year, the company posted $5.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

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

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.