HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,887 shares of the company’s stock after selling 989 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $2,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Tidemark LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter worth $39,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on HCA. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp lowered 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HCA opened at $333.68 on Friday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The company has a market capitalization of $82.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $320.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $343.89.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.