Pacer Advisors Inc. Cuts Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA

Pacer Advisors Inc. cut its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 718,269 shares of the company’s stock after selling 43,208 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.32% of HCA Healthcare worth $339,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,566,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,532,563,000 after purchasing an additional 76,039 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,999,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,334,040,000 after buying an additional 40,086 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,663,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,702,738,000 after buying an additional 13,565 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,262,513,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,311,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,078,966,000 after purchasing an additional 245,887 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on HCA. Mizuho lowered their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $525.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $558.00 to $485.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $635.00 to $579.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $475.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 27th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $465.05.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $403.44 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $87.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.10. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $353.13 and a 1-year high of $556.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $387.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $450.99.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The company reported $7.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.56 by $0.03. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.77% and a negative return on equity of 244.79%. The business had revenue of $20.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 29.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.45%.

About HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare is a for‑profit operator of healthcare facilities headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1968, the company owns and operates a network of hospitals and related healthcare facilities and has grown through organic expansion and acquisitions to become a large provider of inpatient and outpatient services.

The company’s core activities include the operation of acute care hospitals, freestanding surgical and emergency centers, and outpatient clinics. HCA’s services encompass inpatient care, surgical services, emergency medicine, diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing, and various outpatient and ambulatory care offerings.