Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 60 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,747 shares of the company’s stock after selling 60 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $1,640,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,655,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,498,417,000 after buying an additional 116,826 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,871,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,159,882,000 after buying an additional 50,321 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $878,975,000 after buying an additional 19,121 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $840,286,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,017,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $605,694,000 after purchasing an additional 223,248 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total transaction of $5,797,585.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,670,420.72. This represents a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $404.00 target price (up from $376.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $385.00 in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.71.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $380.43 on Tuesday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $91.52 billion, a PE ratio of 16.92, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $375.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $342.80.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 1,063.91%. The company had revenue of $18.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is 12.81%.

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.