Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,104 shares of the company’s stock after selling 277 shares during the quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $1,532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,044,000. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 39,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691 shares during the period. Peak Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,122,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 116,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,840,000 after purchasing an additional 8,329 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 120.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,264,000 after purchasing an additional 476,756 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on HCA. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $381.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $368.33 on Wednesday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $337.71 and a 200 day moving average of $328.08. The company has a market capitalization of $88.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. The company had revenue of $18.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.36 EPS. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend 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.