Quent Capital LLC Decreases Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Quent Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 16.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 686 shares of the company’s stock after selling 138 shares during the quarter. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $220,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Stokes Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 2,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $658,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 47.7% in the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 84,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,057,000 after acquiring an additional 27,200 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $200,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 40.5% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 392 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 18.8% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total transaction of $1,085,804.37. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,436,623.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total transaction of $1,085,804.37. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,436,623.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.20, for a total value of $1,440,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,569,729.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,668 shares of company stock valued at $6,309,885 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen cut their target price on HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. SVB Leerink upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on HCA Healthcare in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $396.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $327.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $329.00 to $378.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $344.06.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA stock traded up $2.75 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $352.93. The company had a trading volume of 1,123,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,166,252. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.68. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $369.41. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $334.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $325.15.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $17.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.29 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.43 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

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.