525 Shares in HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA Acquired by First Merchants Corp

First Merchants Corp bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 83.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,399,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $829,104,000 after buying an additional 1,091,416 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,781,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $615,583,000 after buying an additional 587,036 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter valued at about $569,217,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 6,237.9% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,350,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,815,000 after buying an additional 1,329,618 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 880,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,313,000 after purchasing an additional 6,888 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of HCA opened at $418.35 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $403.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $375.04. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $439.01. The firm has a market cap of $97.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.59, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.40.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $6.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.20 by $0.64. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 7,363.11% and a net margin of 8.21%.The company had revenue of $18.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.50 EPS. HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. HCA Healthcare has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.500-27.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $444.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $404.00 to $401.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group set a $465.00 target price on HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $422.31.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,836 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $418.84, for a total transaction of $1,606,670.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,194,716.52. This represents a 10.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.