Jennifer Berres Sells 9,533 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Stock

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of HCA stock traded up $0.74 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $316.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,084,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,650,888. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.28 billion, a PE ratio of 14.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. 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’s fifty day moving average is $313.18 and its 200 day moving average is $351.78.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $361,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 2,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 195.9% during the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 5,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,623,000 after buying an additional 3,580 shares during the last quarter. City National Bank of Florida MSD acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth $229,000. Finally, RB Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $892,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on HCA shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.