HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,751,569 shares of the company’s stock after selling 76,857 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 6.55% of HCA Healthcare worth $5,442,955,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 888.9% during the first quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 89 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 344.0% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 75.8% in the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 116 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on HCA. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $410.00 to $400.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Baird R W lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Bank of America lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $394.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of HCA Healthcare from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $385.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,646 shares in the company, valued at $4,670,420.72. This trade represents a 55.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $366.08 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $369.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $348.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.39. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $6.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $18.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.50 EPS. HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.11%.

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.