Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Boosts Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 58,724 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,168 shares during the period. HCA Healthcare accounts for 1.3% of Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $17,626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HCA. Wells Fargo & Company cut HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $329.25 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $321.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $342.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly 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 in the previous year, the business earned $5.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

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.