HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) is Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s 9th Largest Position

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC increased its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 241,163 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,483 shares during the quarter. HCA Healthcare makes up about 3.6% of Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $72,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HCA. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HCA has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $311.11 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $315.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $348.80. The company has a market cap of $77.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.90 EPS. Research analysts anticipate 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 0.93%. The ex-dividend date 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%.

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.