Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Trims Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. decreased its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,396 shares of the company’s stock after selling 171 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 17,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,241,000 after purchasing an additional 4,285 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Group LP acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $150,548,000. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $18,044,000. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $869,000. Finally, NRI Wealth Management LC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $2,896,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on HCA. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE:HCA opened at $312.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $79.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.64. 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’s 50-day moving average is $313.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $353.04. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company posted $5.90 EPS. Research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.02%.

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.