Aviva PLC Decreases Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Aviva PLC lowered its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 116,871 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,911 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $35,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at about $209,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 8.9% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,498,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth $207,000. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 56,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,117,000 after acquiring an additional 2,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 21.0% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 17,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,136,000 after purchasing an additional 3,052 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HCA. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. 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 reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 4.8 %

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $332.53 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $81.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.14, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $327.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $339.04. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year 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.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is an increase 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 yield of 0.87%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.