Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Raises Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 105,625 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,721 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $28,591,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $513,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,385,552. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,127 shares of company stock worth $2,218,364 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HCA. StockNews.com raised shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Raymond James raised their target price on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $316.59.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA traded down $1.08 on Friday, hitting $307.76. The company had a trading volume of 1,044,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,189,320. The stock has a market cap of $81.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.02. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $335.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $322.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $297.17.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

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.