Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Acquires 35 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 461 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $125,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. abrdn plc raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 164,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,444,000 after acquiring an additional 7,476 shares during the period. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at about $10,085,000. DNB Asset Management AS raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 60,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,425,000 after acquiring an additional 7,476 shares during the period. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,100,000. Finally, Comerica Bank raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 623.3% in the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 43,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,701,000 after acquiring an additional 37,488 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $319.14 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $324.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $293.84. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The firm had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total transaction of $981,728.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,967.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Raymond James lifted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $277.00 to $301.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.88.

HCA Healthcare 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.