Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Grows Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,448 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 840 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $5,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Canoe Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $1,023,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,843 shares in the company, valued at $2,415,579. This represents a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,363,950.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,445,700. This represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Truist Financial cut 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA opened at $321.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.55 billion, a PE ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $313.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $353.37. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week 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.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.89 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 12.02%.

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.