Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Purchases Shares of 8,104 HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,801,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 888.9% during the 1st quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 89 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 344.0% during the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 111 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 75.8% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 116 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 99.0% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC now owns 191 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on HCA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $404.00 to $401.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. 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. Bank of America cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $394.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reissued 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $396.46.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $344.52 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $372.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $346.40. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $289.98 and a 12 month high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.47.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $6.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.20 by $0.64. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.21% and a negative return on equity of 7,363.11%. The firm had revenue of $18.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.50 EPS. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 12.11%.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 12,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,670,420.72. The trade was 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.