Swiss National Bank Decreases Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Swiss National Bank lowered its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 637,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.24% of HCA Healthcare worth $172,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at $25,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $356.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $316.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,127 shares of company stock valued at $2,218,364 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA Healthcare stock traded down $1.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $307.68. 1,044,928 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,099,878. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $335.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.38 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $322.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $297.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.74 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.