Sapient Capital LLC Purchases New Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HCA. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $513,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,385,552. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $110,757.68. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 7,127 shares of company stock valued at $2,218,364 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA Healthcare stock traded down $1.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $307.76. 1,044,934 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,189,320. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66. The business has a 50 day moving average of $322.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $297.73. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $335.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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

HCA Healthcare declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to buyback $6.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $316.59.

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.