Vontobel Holding Ltd. Decreases Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. trimmed its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,726 shares of the company’s stock after selling 451 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $1,719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 31.7% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 17,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,241,000 after acquiring an additional 4,285 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Group LP acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter worth $150,548,000. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $18,044,000. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at $869,000. Finally, NRI Wealth Management LC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at $2,896,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of HCA opened at $316.18 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $80.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $313.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $352.11.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on HCA shares. Truist Financial dropped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

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.