Fisher Funds Management LTD Purchases New Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Fisher Funds Management LTD purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 71,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,480,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter worth $41,000. Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HCA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE:HCA opened at $316.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The stock has a market cap of $78.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $313.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $350.83.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm earned $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.11%.

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.