HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Patten & Patten Inc. TN

Patten & Patten Inc. TN decreased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,209 shares of the company’s stock after selling 98 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $4,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HCA. Maridea Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the first quarter worth about $209,000. Sunpointe LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 13.5% in the first quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 1,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 29.9% during the 1st quarter. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC now owns 78,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,990,000 after buying an additional 17,992 shares in the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare during the first quarter worth $2,462,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 65,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,621,000 after buying an additional 3,882 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other HCA Healthcare 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,670,420.72. The trade was a 55.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on HCA shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised HCA Healthcare from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $320.00 to $385.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 target price on HCA Healthcare and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Bank of America cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $394.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Baird R W cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $399.46.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 2.1%

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $334.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.98. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $373.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $346.16. The company has a market capitalization of $80.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.05, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.47.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $6.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.20 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $18.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.49 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.21% and a negative return on equity of 7,363.11%. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.50 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.11%.

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.