HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lowered its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,412 shares of the company’s stock after selling 71 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,276,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,883 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 120.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,264,000 after buying an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Group LP bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth $150,548,000. Canoe Financial LP raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 226,952.9% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 231,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,513,000 after buying an additional 231,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 43,546.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 223,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,074,000 after buying an additional 222,956 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on HCA shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America cut their target price on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. KeyCorp cut their target price on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value 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 approximately $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA stock opened at $323.33 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $317.93 and its 200-day moving average is $346.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The company has a market cap of $79.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 prior year, the firm posted $5.90 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.11%.

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.