Metropolis Capital Ltd Purchases Shares of 341,437 HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Metropolis Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 341,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,984,000. HCA Healthcare makes up about 4.4% of Metropolis Capital Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Metropolis Capital Ltd owned 0.14% of HCA Healthcare at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth approximately $840,286,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 40,527.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,703,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,887,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,699,713 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 62.0% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,500,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $450,461,000 after buying an additional 574,239 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,061,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,727,000 after acquiring an additional 489,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,264,000 after purchasing an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HCA opened at $370.76 on Friday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $289.98 and a 12 month high of $417.14. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $358.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $333.12. The company has a market cap of $89.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.49. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. The business had revenue of $18.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.81%.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total transaction of $5,797,585.36. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,670,420.72. The trade was a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on HCA shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $336.00 target price (down from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Stephens raised shares of HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Baird R W cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $392.47.

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.