Vise Technologies Inc. Raises Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Vise Technologies Inc. grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 195.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,407 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,580 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $1,623,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,264,000 after purchasing an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 120,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,262,000 after buying an additional 1,931 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 18,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,415,000 after buying an additional 2,621 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 9,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,975,000 after buying an additional 1,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 23,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,175,000 after buying an additional 3,495 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Baird R W downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $336.00 price target (down previously from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. One 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $381.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total value of $5,797,585.36. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,646 shares in the company, valued at $4,670,420.72. This represents a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $376.86 on Friday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $417.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $346.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $329.44. The firm has a market cap of $90.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. The business had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 12.81%.

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.