HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,605 shares of the company’s stock after selling 437 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $4,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HCA. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 948 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $200,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 43,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,677,000 after purchasing an additional 8,005 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, InterOcean Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 3,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $904,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total value of $3,221,340.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,438,494.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total transaction of $659,327.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,303,912.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total value of $3,221,340.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,438,494.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,202 shares of company stock worth $6,407,273 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HCA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Leerink Partners upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $359.89.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.9 %

HCA stock opened at $403.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $105.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.67. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $404.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $368.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $340.09.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $17.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.16%.

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.