Tidal Investments LLC Grows Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 348.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 99,123 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 77,005 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $29,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at $840,286,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 62.0% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,500,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $450,461,000 after buying an additional 574,239 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,061,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,727,000 after buying an additional 489,916 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Consulta Ltd raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Consulta Ltd now owns 550,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,082,000 after buying an additional 275,000 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on HCA. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Baird R W cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $336.00 target price (down previously from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $381.13.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA stock opened at $387.49 on Friday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $417.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $340.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $328.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.81%.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total transaction of $5,797,585.36. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 12,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,670,420.72. The trade was a 55.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.